What Are The Chances of a '54 Million Ton' Asteroid Hitting Earth in 2024? NASA Knows The Answer

NASA assured the world that a massive “lost” asteroid, weighing 54 million tons, will not collide with Earth in 2024. This follows a report by Britain’s BG News, which suggested a 1 in 10 million chance of impact on March 3 and 1 in 11.5 million on Oct. 5. But NASA has now come forward with a conclusive answer.

The asteroid, known as 2007 FT3, first observed in 2007, disappeared from telescopic view, the New York Post reported. However, scientists have now calculated an 89-potential impact risk this year. As collision dates approached, researchers stated there were no known asteroid threats for the next century.

Meanwhile, NASA and its partners continue to actively monitor celestial bodies and categorise potential risks. “There are no known asteroid impact threats to Earth at any time in the next century. Nasa and its partners diligently watch the skies to find, track, and categorise asteroids and near-Earth objects (NEOs), including those that may come close to Earth,” a Nasa spokesperson told UK’s Standard.

“An important note here is planetary scientists define asteroid approaches that come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit as close approaches. The larger an asteroid is, the easier it is for our planetary defence experts to find, meaning that their orbits around the sun are usually very well-known and understood for years or even decades,” the spokesperson added.

Scientists were able to collect information about the asteroid before losing track of it. The asteroid made its way onto the US space agency’s Sentry Risk Table of objects that could impact Earth. The 2007 FT3 remains untraceable, but if it posed a threat, NASA would know.

Bennu, another such asteroid, has a 1 in 2,700 chance of colliding with Earth in the year 2182, contingent on passing through a gravitational keyhole in 2135. NASA collected samples from Bennu last year, aiming to unravel Earth’s origin mysteries. In a comical twist, the US agency, in year 2022, crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid at 15,000 mph, simulating deflection efforts.