NASA says there are 14,000 undetected threatening asteroids in space

A routine infographic recently released by the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) is keeping many people up at night. In a visual representation that provides some form of assessment of the agency’s activities to deal with the risk of impacts from near-Earth objects (NEOs), 50 objects larger than one kilometer and 14 thousand objects larger than 140 meters have not been detected yet.

It is true that none of the rocks mentioned are the size of the large asteroid that hit the Yucatan Peninsula during the Cretaceous period and wiped out the dinosaurs. (diameter is estimated to be 10 kilometers). However, let’s accept that a rock with a diameter of up to 140 meters falling from space could cause serious damage if it reaches a residential area.

To get an idea of ​​the damage that such an object can do, we only need to remember that in 2013, a rock fell in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia, breaking windows and injuring about 1,500 people. Its estimated size was 20 meters.

Watch out for asteroids that may fall to Earth

It’s the job of NASA’s planetary defense coordination to keep an eye out for asteroids or other objects that could hit Earth and cause possible destruction. PDCO applies planetary science to ensure humanity is prepared to respond immediately to threats from asteroid and comet impacts.

This includes developing a skill set We work not only to mitigate these impacts if they occur, but also to avoid them whenever possible.

In one of the most notable examples of preemptive planetary defense, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission intentionally collided with the lunar asteroid Dimorphos 11 million kilometers from Earth on September 26, 2021. The mission achieved its goal and managed to change the asteroid’s orbit.

Why is it difficult to find asteroids in space?

There is no shortage of eyesight to spot potentially dangerous asteroids. According to the alarming infographic published by NASA on August 3, More than 405 million observations by amateur and professional astronomers submitted to the Minor Planet Centerone of the key centers of the space agency’s planetary defense strategy.

According to the announced figures, how efficient this incredible army of telescopes spread all over the world has proven to be. Last count shown in the document indicates that 32,412 asteroids of all sizes have been detected until the withdrawal date.

However, this significant sum does not change the fact that finding an asteroid is a completely remote possibility. This is because these celestial bodies have no light of their own, meaning the only way to observe them is to see sunlight reflected off their surfaces.

NASA infographic

NASA’s NEO Observations program funds efforts to search for previously undiscovered NEOs (using observatories around the world), calculate and refine the orbits of these objects, and investigate their physical properties and chemical compositions.

The “Liability” infographic analysis is protocol considering these numbers: From 32,412 NEOs of all sizes discovered by August 31, 2023, Of these, 853 are longer than one kilometer and 10,541 are longer than 140 meters.

The problem is that these objects detected above 140 meters represent less than half (43%) of those estimated to exist in space on potential collision courses with Earth. In other words, 14 thousand rocks over 140 meters high and 50 rocks larger than a kilometer are still spinning around in complete “darkness” above our heads.

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