An artist’s impression of an asteroid approaching Earth NASA
What would happen if a huge asteroid were headed toward Earth? Though this might be the topic of innumerable Hollywood movies, it’s also a real concern for space agencies like NASA and its Planetary Defense Coordination Office. This is the department responsible for organizing NASA’s response to a potentially deadly threat from the skies, and earlier this year it ran the world’s most dramatic role-play, simulating what would happen if a dangerous asteroid were spotted on a collision course with the planet. The details of the exercise that NASA played out, along with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the Department of State Office of Space Affairs, was that an imagined asteroid was spotted that had a 72% chance of hitting Earth in around 14 years’ time. With a long lead time, there are actions that space agencies could take to try to deflect the asteroid, like the DART test, which deliberately crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in 2022 and managed to change its course. One of the challenges of this exercise was that it wasn’t known what the size or composition of the asteroid was, making it harder to predict how effective any intervention might be. This simulates some of the challenges of real asteroid detection, as information on trajectory, shape, mass, and composition isn’t always known as the same time. There are also challenges in observing asteroids as they pass behind the sun and can be impossible to observe for months at a time. Another challenge was bringing together responses from different agencies, such as FEMA, that would coordinate responses on the ground. “Our mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters,” said Leviticus “L.A.” Lewis, FEMA detailee to NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. “We work across the country every day before disasters happen to help people and communities understand and prepare for possible risks. In the event of a potential asteroid impact, FEMA would be a leading player in interagency coordination.” NASA stresses that there are currently no known asteroids that threaten Earth, though it is important to be prepared if such a scenario were ever to occur. The further in advance an asteroid were to be identified, the more time is available to mount a response. “A large asteroid impact is potentially the only natural disaster humanity has the technology to predict years in advance and take action to prevent,” said Lindley Johnson, NASA planetary defense officer emeritus. NASA has so far only released a relatively brief summary of the findings from the exercise, but a more complete report is expected to follow. If you’ve been following the story of an asteroid that could hit Earth in 2032, there’s bad news and good news. The bad news is that the likelihood of the asteroid striking the Earth has now risen slightly, but the good news is that astronomers are using tools like the James Webb Space Telescope to track it in more detail. The probability that Asteroid 2024 YR4 will impact Earth on December 22, 2032 has now risen to 2.3%, according to NASA. The asteroid is being observed by ground-bases telescopes that are part of the International Asteroid Warning Network, which will be following the it for as long as it continues to be visible — which should be through April this year. After that, it will be too faint to observe until 2028. Scientists studying the sample collected in 2023 from asteroid Bennu have announced a dramatic finding: they have identified the key building blocks of life within the sample. Although this does not mean that life is present on Bennu, a small asteroid in our solar system, it does show that the conditions for life to emerge are present in locations beyond Earth. Researchers have been studying the 121-gram sample since it was dropped into the Utah desert by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in September 2023. Now, in a pair of two papers published in the journals Nature and in Nature Astronomy, scientists announced they have identified 14 of the 20 amino acids that life on Earth uses to make proteins within the sample. Additionally, the sample also shows evidence that saltwater was once present on the asteroid, which would have provided a medium for these compounds to interact. Astronomers have made a startling discovery: a medium-sized asteroid that could potentially impact the Earth within the next 10 years. However, experts agree that the public does not have to be concerned about this just yet, as space agencies are still in the process of collecting more data to determine the exact path of the object. Named 2024 YR4, the asteroid was discovered on December 27, 2024 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile, and is projected to come close to Earth in December 2032.

An artist’s impression of an asteroid approaching Earth NASA
What would happen if a huge asteroid were headed toward Earth? Though this might be the topic of innumerable Hollywood movies, it’s also a real concern for space agencies like NASA and its Planetary Defense Coordination Office. This is the department responsible for organizing NASA’s response to a potentially deadly threat from the skies, and earlier this year it ran the world’s most dramatic role-play, simulating what would happen if a dangerous asteroid were spotted on a collision course with the planet. The details of the exercise that NASA played out, along with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the Department of State Office of Space Affairs, was that an imagined asteroid was spotted that had a 72% chance of hitting Earth in around 14 years’ time. With a long lead time, there are actions that space agencies could take to try to deflect the asteroid, like the DART test, which deliberately crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid in 2022 and managed to change its course. One of the challenges of this exercise was that it wasn’t known what the size or composition of the asteroid was, making it harder to predict how effective any intervention might be. This simulates some of the challenges of real asteroid detection, as information on trajectory, shape, mass, and composition isn’t always known as the same time. There are also challenges in observing asteroids as they pass behind the sun and can be impossible to observe for months at a time. Another challenge was bringing together responses from different agencies, such as FEMA, that would coordinate responses on the ground. “Our mission is helping people before, during, and after disasters,” said Leviticus “L.A.” Lewis, FEMA detailee to NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. “We work across the country every day before disasters happen to help people and communities understand and prepare for possible risks. In the event of a potential asteroid impact, FEMA would be a leading player in interagency coordination.” NASA stresses that there are currently no known asteroids that threaten Earth, though it is important to be prepared if such a scenario were ever to occur. The further in advance an asteroid were to be identified, the more time is available to mount a response. “A large asteroid impact is potentially the only natural disaster humanity has the technology to predict years in advance and take action to prevent,” said Lindley Johnson, NASA planetary defense officer emeritus. NASA has so far only released a relatively brief summary of the findings from the exercise, but a more complete report is expected to follow. If you’ve been following the story of an asteroid that could hit Earth in 2032, there’s bad news and good news. The bad news is that the likelihood of the asteroid striking the Earth has now risen slightly, but the good news is that astronomers are using tools like the James Webb Space Telescope to track it in more detail. The probability that Asteroid 2024 YR4 will impact Earth on December 22, 2032 has now risen to 2.3%, according to NASA. The asteroid is being observed by ground-bases telescopes that are part of the International Asteroid Warning Network, which will be following the it for as long as it continues to be visible — which should be through April this year. After that, it will be too faint to observe until 2028. Scientists studying the sample collected in 2023 from asteroid Bennu have announced a dramatic finding: they have identified the key building blocks of life within the sample. Although this does not mean that life is present on Bennu, a small asteroid in our solar system, it does show that the conditions for life to emerge are present in locations beyond Earth. Researchers have been studying the 121-gram sample since it was dropped into the Utah desert by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission in September 2023. Now, in a pair of two papers published in the journals Nature and in Nature Astronomy, scientists announced they have identified 14 of the 20 amino acids that life on Earth uses to make proteins within the sample. Additionally, the sample also shows evidence that saltwater was once present on the asteroid, which would have provided a medium for these compounds to interact. Astronomers have made a startling discovery: a medium-sized asteroid that could potentially impact the Earth within the next 10 years. However, experts agree that the public does not have to be concerned about this just yet, as space agencies are still in the process of collecting more data to determine the exact path of the object. Named 2024 YR4, the asteroid was discovered on December 27, 2024 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile, and is projected to come close to Earth in December 2032.