Produced by: Manoj Kumar
A fiery asteroid exploded above Siberia this week, detected by NASA only seven hours before impact—a stark reminder of how unprepared we are for cosmic threats.
SETI Institute’s Franck Marchis warns, “If this asteroid were slightly larger, entire cities could have been obliterated.”
NASA and ESA track over 36,765 near-Earth objects, but massive gaps in sky monitoring could leave us vulnerable to catastrophic surprises.
Marchis urges citizen astronomers to join the effort, warning, “Without global vigilance, the next asteroid could strike without notice.”
In 2004, a 400m-wide asteroid was predicted to hit Earth on Christmas Day, sparking global panic until it narrowly missed by mere hours.
Marchis warns that asteroids smaller than 40m—capable of leveling entire regions—could strike Earth undetected, leaving no time to react.
NASA’s DART mission successfully altered an asteroid’s path, but Marchis cautions, “Without years of warning, we’re still defenseless.”
Large regions of the planet remain unmonitored, creating blind spots where deadly asteroids can approach undetected until it's too late.
Marchis calls for urgent expansion of detection efforts, declaring, “Our civilization’s survival depends on finding every deadly asteroid before they find us.”