Minute by minute, what would happen if a world-destroying asteroid was detected coming to Earth - after 'greenish' space fireball crashed into our planet this week
World governments are quickly alerted about a potentially catastrophic event, allowing them to formulate a plan to inform the public.
One year before impact, space agencies from every country launch nuclear deflection missiles with hopes of pushing the giant asteroid away from our planet - but the mission fails.
FEMA orders mass evacuations in the impact zone months in advance and the public is told to expect the worst with hours left on the clock.
While NASA has said such a scenario is unlikely to happen in the near future, an asteroid hit Earth this week and was detected only eight hours before impact.
The small space rock that soared over the Philippines on Thursday was only three feet in diameter, which was not large enough to sound any alarms.
A report published by the White House in 2021 recommended that a reconnaissance mission would be necessary if an asteroid measuring at least 165 feet could hit Earth within 50 years is detected.
The document categorized a 3,300-foot-wide asteroid as a 'possible global catastrophe,' a three-mile-wide space rock as 'above the global catastrophe threshold,' and a six-mile-wide object as capable of causing a 'mass extinction.'
However, NASA, FEMA, and the United Nations conducted an exercise in April to assess how prepared Earth would be if a world-destroying asteroid were detected, finding that we would need at least 14 years' notice.
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World governments are quickly alerted about a potentially catastrophic event, allowing them to formulate a plan to inform the public.
One year before impact, space agencies from every country launch nuclear deflection missiles with hopes of pushing the giant asteroid away from our planet - but the mission fails.
FEMA orders mass evacuations in the impact zone months in advance and the public is told to expect the worst with hours left on the clock.
While NASA has said such a scenario is unlikely to happen in the near future, an asteroid hit Earth this week and was detected only eight hours before impact.
The small space rock that soared over the Philippines on Thursday was only three feet in diameter, which was not large enough to sound any alarms.
A report published by the White House in 2021 recommended that a reconnaissance mission would be necessary if an asteroid measuring at least 165 feet could hit Earth within 50 years is detected.
The document categorized a 3,300-foot-wide asteroid as a 'possible global catastrophe,' a three-mile-wide space rock as 'above the global catastrophe threshold,' and a six-mile-wide object as capable of causing a 'mass extinction.'
However, NASA, FEMA, and the United Nations conducted an exercise in April to assess how prepared Earth would be if a world-destroying asteroid were detected, finding that we would need at least 14 years' notice.
What would happen if a world-destroying asteroid was headed to Earth
NASA is capable of detecting a world-destroying asteroid in about 10 years, but data has shown that Earth is largely underprepared for a catastrophic impact.
