Asteroid the size of London Eye sparks global defence plan as it heads towards Earth A newly-discovered 100 metre wide asteroid heading towards Earth has triggered a planetary defence response group.
Spotted last month by a telescope in Chile, the near-Earth asteroid - designated 2024 YR4 has a chance of smashing into Earth in 2032, said space agency officials in the US and Europe, who have placed it at the top of impact risk lists.
The two groups would look at the chances of the asteroid striking Earth and propose a plan to intervene such as possibly using a spacecraft to intercept it a technique tested in Nasa’s Dart mission.
Still the chances of it striking Earth are minimal and it would not cause a mass extinction as happened 66m years ago when an asteroid led to an end of the dinosaurs as that was up to 15 kilometres wide.
The International Asteroid Warning Network is now making further observations of the asteroid and its path while the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group has also been alerted.
