An asteroid only about a meter in diameter entered Earth’s atmosphere yesterday and burned up, but an asteroid roughly the size of a house is hurtling closer to Earth. The 2024 RF will pass another 2.69 million miles from Earth, a distance that is astronomically close, even if it seems far away to us.

One of the most notable features of the 2024 RF is its incredible speed. The asteroid is hurtling through space at 17,613 miles per hour, making it one of the fastest objects to approach Earth.

We have seen many types of natural disasters. But the dangers of asteroids hitting the Earth may not have been seen. According to the researchers, the dinosaurs completely disappeared from this earth due to the impact of an asteroid that hit the earth six and a half million years ago and the subsequent phenomena. The impact of asteroids that have hit the earth several times can be understood from the depth of the large craters in many places. Every year, many small and large asteroids pass near the earth’s orbit.

‘Planetary Defence’

The field of ‘Planetary Defense’ is now gaining popularity to protect the Earth from future asteroid attacks.

NASA and other astronomical organizations have set up telescopic systems all over the world to monitor asteroids and take drastic measures if necessary. Even so, asteroids reaching even within the blink of an eye is a matter of concern. As a solution to this, NASA has prepared some powerful systems.

One of these is the Near Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope. Launched in 2026, it will help monitor incoming asteroids and rocky debris. Dart is the latter. Dart is a spacecraft aimed at hitting an asteroid, knocking it out of its orbit, and reorienting it. It is about the size of a fridge and is powered by xenon energy.