NASA has recently provided an alarming and unforeseen update concerning a ‘city-destroying’ asteroid that may potentially head towards the moon in the coming years.
In recent months, numerous updates have emerged about the ‘city-destroying’ asteroid known as ‘2024 YR4,’ as NASA experts continue to monitor its trajectory.
According to these experts, the asteroid could make its way toward Earth on December 22, 2032.
Reports indicate that the asteroid could be the size of the Statue of Liberty, making it crucial for scientists to carefully plan their approach to address this potential threat.
While there is a possibility that the Moon could be affected by the asteroid, experts have discussed its potential impact on Earth, and fortunately, any disruption should be minimal.
“There is the possibility this would eject some material back out that could hit the Earth, but I highly doubt it would cause any major threat,” David Rankin, an operations engineer at the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey, told New Scientist.
Gareth Collins from Imperial College London also commented: “We would be quite safe on Earth. Some small ejecta fragments might reach Earth, but [would be] totally harmless.”
Earlier this year, the likelihood of the asteroid colliding with the moon was 1.2 percent, but it has since increased to a 4.3 percent chance of impact.
Molly Wasser, public affairs officer for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, stated in a press release: “As data comes in, it is normal for the impact probability to evolve.”
Richard Moissl, head of the European Space Agency’s planetary defense office, added: “The possibility of getting a chance for an observation of a sizable Moon impact is indeed an interesting scenario from a scientific point of view.”
Despite the increased risk, there remains a significant 95 percent chance that the asteroid will completely miss the Moon.
Dr. Robin George Andrews has previously cautioned that attempts to protect ourselves from the asteroid’s impact could potentially fail.
On Twitter, the expert mentioned the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a mission focused on exploring and demonstrating a method of asteroid deflection by altering an asteroid’s trajectory through kinetic impact.
“Nobody wants to accidentally ‘disrupt’ an asteroid, because those components can still head for Earth. As I often say, it’s like turning a cannonball into a shotgun spray,” Andrews explained. “But we aren’t going to see it again until another Earth flyby in 2028. So much could go wrong if we try and hit it with something like DART.”
“It may be smaller, or larger. If it’s too big, we may not be able to deflect it with one spacecraft. We’d need several to hit it perfectly, all without catastrophically breaking it.”