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How close is Earth to an Extinction Level Event via asteroid?
The chance of a global catastrophe from space is so remote, is it really worth spending billions on it?
The End. Finis. Kaput. We grapple with peril, but the threats that frighten us — terrorism, epidemics, earthquakes — are not existential; none is capable of killing everyone, everywhere.
An asteroid impact, on the other hand, could render us extinct. Sixty-six million years ago, the Chicxulub asteroid killed off the dinosaurs. The Tunguska asteroid, which struck Siberia in 1908, destroyed 1287 square kilometres. Estimates suggest that a Tunguska-sized asteroid will strike every 500 years; a one-kilometre object, capable of global catastrophe, every 700,000 years.
The possibility of avoiding cataclysm has inspired the people behind Asteroid Day today, supported by scientists, astronauts and media types, including the astrophysicist and Queen guitarist Brian May, the Astronomer Royal, Lord Rees and Bill Nye, the Science Guy.
