NASA is in crisis mode, scrambling to prepare for a potential catastrophe as the threat of a “city-killing” asteroid – Asteroid 2024 YR4 – hurtling toward Earth grows more alarming by the day. With impact odds continuing to rise, scientists and engineers are racing against time, devising emergency strategies to prevent—or at least mitigate—a disaster that could level an entire metropolis. The clock is ticking, and the world is watching as NASA mobilizes to confront a cosmic threat that could reshape history.
The newly identified asteroid, Asteroid 2024 YR4, has captured the attention of planetary defense experts for two critical reasons. First, it is large enough to inflict significant localized destruction should it ever collide with Earth. Second, while the odds of an impact in 2032 remain slim, the asteroid has crossed the 1% probability threshold—an alarming benchmark that has triggered official alerts to key U.S. government agencies, the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group, and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs under the International Asteroid Warning Network’s protocols.
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Asteroid 2024 YR4 is a near-Earth asteroid, meaning it is an asteroid in an orbit that brings it into Earth’s region of the Solar System. 2024 YR4 is estimated to be about 130 to 300 feet (40 – 90 meters) wide and has a very small chance of Earth impact on Dec. 22, 2032.
As astronomers gather more data on Asteroid 2024 YR4’s orbit, the true nature of the threat will become clearer. History suggests that improved calculations often rule out impact risks, as seen with numerous other asteroids on NASA JPL’s watchlist. Yet, there is also the unsettling possibility that its impact probability could continue to rise. The world is now watching—and waiting.
However, the European Space Agency (ESA) explained that Asteroid 2024 YR4 has an approximately 98% chance of safely passing Earth on 22 December 2032. Astronomers are working to reduce our uncertainty about the asteroid’s orbit and rule out any impact risk, but it will fade from view from Earth in a few months’ time, and a small chance of impact may persist until it becomes visible again in 2028.
“The chance of impact is very slim, and the asteroid is small enough that the effects of any potential impact would be on a local scale, but the situation is significant enough to warrant the attention of the global planetary defense community,” said the ESA
