NASA assesses risk of asteroid collision with Earth

None of the current asteroids has a threat of collision with Earth in the coming century, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator, NASA's Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Report informs, referring to foreign media.

On November 24, the NASA DART will launch a mission to smack an asteroid into a new orbit to prepare for the possibility that an asteroid in the future might threaten Earth: "But don't worry, experts agree that there is no possibility that (even if it goes awry) this asteroid-smashing could threaten Earth," said NASA official.

Astronomer Amy Mainzer, who is the principal investigator of NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission and who specializes in characterizing populations of asteroids and comets, said that right now, we are aware of only about 30-40% of the large objects, or objects about 459 feet (140 meters) and larger, near our planet. "That's great, but it means we still have more work to do."