According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), an asteroid the size of the Great Pyramid in Gaza may collide with Earth in the near future. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has spent a decade monitoring the asteroid known as JF1 for this very reason.
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The asteroid is measured to be 420ft across and is said to strike with a force of 230 kilotons — 230,000 tonnes of TNT — should it collide with Earth. Such an impact would be 15 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. And NASA scientists predict the asteroid to potentially hit Earth on May 6, 2022.
JF1 would undoubtedly cause mass destruction were it to collide with earth. Scientists posit that hitting areas of civilization would result in millions of deaths, but may still be catastrophic otherwise. Even if it only hit “the remotest part of the Pacific Ocean“, “devastating tsunamis” and a “nuclear winter” are likely to happen.
However, the Space Agency reassures that the chances of collision are very low. They cite a one in 3,800 odds (or 0.026% chance) of the asteroid actually hitting Earth. Still, they continue to keep the asteroid on their radar due to the danger it poses. Researchers and spacecraft engineers from Europe and America are also working on methods to deflect or redirect asteroids.
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