NASA Loses Track Of 900 Dangerous Asteroids

Nearly 900 Asteroids Are 'At Risk' Of Hitting Earth, Expert Warns

NASA has reportedly lost track of 900 potentially hazardous asteroids it was keeping a close watch on IAE scientists have warned that these asteroids could show up anywhere in space and take earth by surprise and sorry how do you just like lose an asteroid you lose your keys you lose your iPhone you don't lose it a gigantic piece of space rock.

now on asteroid review we're going to talk about the fact that a NASA-funded institution has lost track of 900 asteroids these asteroids didn't just disappear they just don't know where they are ok here's a bit of back 3 the International Astronomical Union is an institution located in Massachusetts funded by NASA they carried out a campaign back in 2013 to 2016 that successfully tracked down all near-earth objects aka asteroids that are going to closely approach our planet it took three years but they identified 17 thousand and 30 asteroids out of those 17 thousand there were about 1,900 that were classified as unconfirmed which means the IAE wasn't able to observe them long enough to figure out their orbits.

now it seems that because of the limitations of earth-based telescopes the IAU has announced that they lost track of nine hundred of the asteroids they previously identified that's bad that's really bad if the IAU can't track these asteroids and their orbits we have no way of knowing if they're on a collision course with earth dr. Peter berry as head of the asteroid-hunting campaign said I quote we need to act fast no Sherlock he went on tomorrow that object could be on the other side of this guy and nobody really knows where it will stop scaring me, Peter.

so how dangerous are these asteroids that went missing some of them aren't a cause for worry there's only a there are only a couple meters long few meters but then there are the other ones that are just shy of a kilometer long near-earth asteroids can be up to 3,200 meters wide and they can stay in orbit for ten to 100 million years asteroids are mostly made up of water and dust particles that are frozen together solid while they orbit for planets from the Sun like Uranus they can travel at a speed of 45,000 miles per hour the good news is Peter said that the asteroids are doomsday causing like the one that was as big as the one that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago haven't gone missing oh good job Peter you didn't lose that one that's good good for you Peter.

but don't let out that sigh of relief just yet whoo even small asteroids can be very dangerous the Tunguska event in Russia that took place in 1908 was caused by an asteroid that was between 50 to 190 meters long and it completely flattened a 2,000 square radius of forest it's clear that space agencies need to like buckle down and find these asteroids that have gone missing for all our sakes once we know where and after it is and its orbit we might be able to do something about potential collisions in 2021 NASA is launching the double asteroid impact test or Dart it's a spaceship that's supposed to crash into any O's and push them off course dart is expected to travel at a speed of 6.6 kilometers per second and will reach its location by September 2022.