The scientific community celebrates World Asteroid Day, or International Asteroid Day, every year on June 30 after an event that rocked Russia. Every year, scientists spread awareness about the space rocks that linger around our planet, also known as the near-Earth asteroid, and the actions needed to save us from another catastrophic impact. Let’s take a look at the history of this serious but little-noticed issue and how it compelled the United Nations to adopt a resolution.
The event that shook Russia
It was June 30, 1908 when an asteroid hit the Siberia of the Russian Federation. Now known as the Tunguska asteroid event, this was the largest asteroid impact on Earth in recorded history. According to NASA, the energy generated during the impact was equivalent to about 185 Hiroshima atomic bombs, and the shock waves generated flattened 5,00,000 acres of uninhabited forest. NASA says the shockwaves also smashed a million windows in many homes, injuring over a thousand residents.
It was this event that prompted the UN to adopt a resolution on December 16 based on a proposal from the Association of Space Explorers, supported by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). The United Nations says the day serves to “raise public awareness of the threat of an asteroid impact and to inform the public of the crisis communication actions to be taken at the global level in the event of a credible threat from near-Earth objects.”
But the story doesn’t end here. On February 15, 2013, another asteroid entered the atmosphere at a speed of 18.6 kilometers per second and exploded before crashing over Chelyabinsk in western Russia. NASA estimates later found that the blast released energy equivalent to 440 kilotons, and it was the highest-energy impact event recognized since the 1908 Tunguska blast.
What are scientists doing to prevent asteroid impacts?
First of all, they have redoubled their efforts to detect the asteroids that could or would hit Earth in the near future. NASA records show that over 16,000 NEOs have been discovered so far, and thankfully no space rocks will make their way onto our planet any time soon. As for protection from these space rocks, we’ve been in the works since NASA launched its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission to test whether a spacecraft’s intentional impact with an asteroid could alter its trajectory or even destroy it .
On June 29, just before Asteroid Day, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that the asteroid “2021 QM1” was no longer on the “at risk” list. After its discovery in August last year, scientists feared it could collide with our planet in 2052, but follow-up observations refined its trajectory and astronomers confirmed it no longer poses a threat.
