Ever wondered what you’d do if a space rock the size of the Statue of Liberty came hurtling toward your city? Well, NASA is wondering the same thing—because it might happen.
Meet asteroid 2024 YR4, the unwelcome cosmic guest with a 2.3% chance of crashing into Earth in 2032.
Not lottery-winning odds, but not nothing either. Cue the space nerds.
NASA’s calling in the big guns—the James Webb Telescope—to get a better look at this potential city flattener.
Scientists now want to know all the details about size, speed, and potential damage.
Because if this thing’s coming for us, we need a plan.
What Do We Do Now?
Dr. Robin George Andrews, asteroid defense guru and author of How to Kill an Asteroid, has thoughts.
Remember DART, the mission that smacked an asteroid off course in 2022?
Cool, right? But Andrews warns, “Turning a cannonball into a shotgun blast isn’t exactly better.”
Smashing YR4 could turn it into space shrapnel—still deadly, just messier.
So, do we nudge it? Nuke it? Or pack our bags and get out of the way?
We’ve got a few years to decide, but let’s hope the scientists are better at planning than we are at keeping New Year’s resolutions.
