NASA tracks house-sized asteroid amid growing celestial threats
By avagrace // 2025-08-17
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  • NASA's JPL is tracking asteroid 2025 PR1, a house-sized rock passing within 609,000 miles of Earth on Aug. 16 – closer than some satellites. Three more asteroids (including one stadium-sized) will skim past this week, highlighting frequent near-misses.
  • 2024 YR4, a 200-foot "city-killer" asteroid, now has a 4.3 percent chance of hitting the Moon in 2032. A strike could eject 220 million pounds of debris, with 10 percent reaching Earth as meteors and high-speed fragments endangering satellites.
  • A lunar impact could disrupt GPS, weather monitoring, and internet services for days due to debris. Solar system expert Paul Wiegert compares the blast to a "large nuclear explosion," leaving a mile-wide crater.
  • NASA's asteroid-tracking programs face funding shortages, jeopardizing defenses against future threats like Bennu (a 1,640-foot asteroid with a 1-in-2,700 chance of hitting Earth in 2182). Lack of investment risks leaving humanity unprepared.
  • Past events like Tunguska (1908) and Chelyabinsk (2013) prove asteroid impacts can cause devastation. While NASA's DART mission (2022) proved deflection is possible, sustained funding is critical to protect Earth's space-dependent infrastructure.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is keeping a watchful eye on asteroid 2025 PR1, a house-sized space rock hurtling toward Earth at 17,717 miles per hour. The asteroid passed within 609,000 miles of Earth on Saturday, Aug. 16 – closer than some satellites – but posed no immediate danger. Yet, this near-miss is part of a broader pattern: Three more asteroids are set to skim past Earth, including one the size of a stadium. While NASA assures the public of minimal risk, the agency's budget cuts and the looming threat of larger asteroids like 2024 YR4 raise urgent questions about humanity's readiness for cosmic threats. The asteroid has a 4.3 percent chance of striking the moon in 2032. The upcoming celestial traffic includes 2025 PM, an airplane-sized asteroid which passed within 654,000 miles of Earth on Sunday, Aug. 17. Two days later, 1997 QK1 – a behemoth spanning 990 feet – will cruise by at 1.87 million miles, trailed by 160-foot-wide 2025 OV4. Though these distances seem vast, in astronomical terms, they're a hair's breadth; for context, the Moon is just 239,000 miles away. Small asteroids (under 30 feet) hit Earth about once a decade, often burning up harmlessly. But larger impacts, like 2013's Chelyabinsk meteor that injured 1,500 people remind us that space is anything but predictable. (Related: NASA only provided a 7-hour warning before asteroid collided with Earth.) Earlier this year, NASA identified 2024 YR4, a 200-foot "city-killer" asteroid initially given a 3.1 percent chance of hitting Earth in 2032 – the highest odds ever recorded for such an object. Updated projections now suggest a 4.3 percent likelihood of a lunar collision instead. If it strikes, the blast could eject 220 million pounds of debris, with 10 percent raining down on Earth as meteors. More critically, high-speed fragments could cripple satellites, disrupting GPS, weather tracking and internet services for days. Solar system expert Paul Wiegert compares the impact to a "large nuclear explosion," leaving a crater nearly a mile wide.

NASA on alert for dangerous space rocks

While NASA plans to reassess 2024 YR4's trajectory during its 2028 flyby, the agency's asteroid-tracking programs face funding shortages. This undermines preparedness at a time when threats like Bennu – a 1,640-foot asteroid with a 1-in-2,700 chance of hitting Earth in 2182 – loom on the horizon. South Korean researchers warn a Bennu impact could trigger wildfires, earthquakes and a years-long "impact winter" from atmospheric dust, slashing global temperatures by 7 F and photosynthesis by 30 percent. Without robust monitoring, humanity risks flying blind. "The 'potentially hazardous' designation simply means over many centuries and millennia the asteroid's orbit may evolve into one that has a chance of impacting Earth. We do not assess these long-term, many-century possibilities of impact," said Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). Asteroid impacts aren't theoretical. In 1908, the Tunguska event flattened 800 square miles of Siberian forest with a blast 1,000 times stronger than Hiroshima. In 2013, Chelyabinsk's undetected meteor proved even small rocks can wreak havoc. Yet, despite these warnings, only 40 percent of near-Earth objects larger than 460 feet have been cataloged. NASA's DART mission – which successfully nudged an asteroid in 2022 – shows promise. But without sustained investment, deflection efforts may fall short. The upcoming flybys of 2025 PR1 and its peers are reminders of Earth's vulnerability. While the recent asteroids would pass safely, the 4.3 percent lunar impact risk for 2024 YR4 and Bennu's distant threat underscore a stark reality: Space is a shooting gallery, and Earth is in the crosshairs. Watch this video on the odds of an asteroid hitting Earth in 2032. This video is from the TrendingNews channel on Brighteon.com.

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NASA updates its plan to deflect potentially hazardous Earth-bound asteroids. NASA discovered 5 asteroids just 2 weeks before they flew past Earth. NASA working on Earth defense technology to destroy asteroids that could obliterate human civilization. Sources include: TheNationalPulse.com Newsweek.com MSN.com Brighteon.com
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