Asteroid 2024 YR4 may hit Earth in 2032

GS Paper III Science and Technology

A newly detected asteroid 2024 YR4 has slightly more than 1% chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years.

What is the newly discovered asteroid 2024 YR4?

Asteroid 2024 YR4

Near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 was discovered in December 2024 at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile.
Size and Impact Potential: It is as big as a football field, measuring 40 to 100 metres across.
- An asteroid this size impacts Earth on average every few thousand years and could cause severe damage to a local region.
Risk Assessment: Asteroid 2024 YR4 is now rated at Level 3 on the Torino Impact Hazard Scale, a close encounter that warrants attention from astronomers and the public.

Asteroids are ancient space rocks left over from the formation of the Solar System.
They are thought to have brought complex molecules, and possibly early life, to Earth billions of years ago.
Most asteroids are found in the asteroid belt, a region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, though some travel closer to Earth.

Comets are small icy dirtballs that orbit the Sun. (Comets are made of ice and dust while asteroids are made of rock).

A meteor is a space rock—or meteoroid—that enters Earth’s atmosphere, as it – burns up upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, creating a streak of light in the sky (often called “shooting stars”). When Earth encounters many meteoroids at once, we call it a meteor shower.

If a meteoroid survives its trip through Earth’s atmosphere and lands on the Earth’s surface, it is called a meteorite.

Difference between an asteroid and a comet:

The main difference between asteroids and comets is their composition, as in, what they are made of.
Asteroids are made up of metals and rocky material, while comets are made up of ice, dust and rocky material.
Both asteroids and comets were formed early in the history of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago.
- Asteroids formed much closer to the Sun, where it was too warm for ice to remain solid.
- Comets formed farther from the Sun where ice would not melt.

Clues to Solar System Formation: They are considered time capsules, preserving materials from the early solar system.
Potential Resources: Some asteroids are thought to contain valuable resources like metals and water, which could be mined in the future.
Hazard to Earth: Some asteroids have orbits that bring them close to Earth, and while impacts are rare, they could cause significant damage if they collide with our planet.

Thousands of asteroids enter Earth’s atmosphere every day but most are small and burn up due to atmospheric friction.
Massive asteroids (over 1 km in diameter) are rare but can cause global disasters.
- Example: Chicxulub asteroid (66 million years ago) wiped out the dinosaurs and 75% of life on Earth.
Even some smaller asteroids (around 40 meters wide) can cause significant destruction.
- Example: The Chelyabinsk asteroid (2013), exploded over Russia, injuring 1,500 people and damaging thousands of buildings.
The impact of a 40-meter asteroid could flatten an entire city, depending on speed and entry angle.

Space agencies like NASA are actively developing planetary defense mechanisms to prevent asteroids from colliding with Earth and causing potential disasters.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART):
- One of the most significant planetary defense missions was DART, a joint project by NASA and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
- It was the first-ever planetary defense test conducted by NASA.
- In 2022, the DART spacecraft deliberately crashed into an asteroid named Dimorphos.
  - This impact successfully altered its shape and trajectory, proving that space agencies can redirect an asteroid’s path.
Other proposed solutions:
- Laser-based deflection by vaporizing part of the asteroid to create thrust.
- Gravity tractor, a spacecraft that uses gravity to slowly pull the asteroid off course.

The Torino Scale, adopted by the International Astronomical Union IAU in 1999, is a tool for categorizing potential Earth impact events.
An integer scale ranging from 0 to 10 with associated color coding, it is intended primarily to facilitate public communication by the asteroid impact hazard monitoring community.
The scale captures the likelihood and consequences of a potential impact event, but does not consider the time remaining until the potential impact.
More extraordinary events are indicated by a higher Torino Scale value.

Asteroid 2024 YR4

ATLAS is an asteroid impact early warning system developed by the University of Hawaii and funded by NASA.
It consists of four telescopes (Hawaii ×2, Chile, South Africa), which automatically scan the whole sky several times every night looking for moving objects.
ATLAS can provide a warning time depending on the size of the asteroid — larger asteroids can be detected further from Earth.

IAWN, chaired by NASA, is responsible for coordinating the international group of organisations involved in asteroid tracking and characterisation.
If appropriate, IAWN would develop a strategy to assist world governments in the analysis of asteroid impact consequences and in the planning of any necessary mitigation responses.

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