Asteroid Day 2015 is a global awareness campaign designated to thrust space-related threats into public consciousness. While an apocalyptic scenario seems overrated, future catastrophic events can still ensue if hazardous asteroids hit the Earth.
In celebration of the Asteroid Day 2015, a global movement to protect the Earth from asteroids was launched on June 30.
Scientists came together for the first time to raise awareness that the 1908 Siberian Tunguska Asteroid Impact could happen again.
According to CBS News, the event is a combination of education, entertainment and science. It also features events from London to San Francisco explaining threats posed by space rocks and what can be done to prevent another impact.
"Asteroids are the only natural disaster we know how to prevent and protecting our planet, families and communities is the goal of Asteroid Day," Asteroid Day 2015 co-founder Grigorij Richters said.
"Asteroids teach us about the origins of life, but they also can impact the future of our species and life on Earth."
As the world raises awareness for the Asteroid Day 2015, several organizations have already invested time and money into researching the possibility of near-earth objects (NEOs) hitting the planet, Irish Independent has learned. But, is the Earth ready in defending itself against the hazards of a cataclysmic asteroid impact?
In line with the Asteroid Day 2015 events, scientists have warned that Britain is at risk from an asteroid tsunami that could kill hundreds of thousands of people living in coastal regions after they determined the path of the asteroids and calculated the risks they can cause.
New technology developed by the University of Southampton researchers suggests that there is a wide asteroid risk zone running through Europe, passing directly over Scandinavia, Germany, France and Spain, The Telegraph reported.
The U.S., on the other hand, is largely unaffected, but Florida and Louisiana could be hit. South Australia is particularly at risk with several asteroid paths crossing the Lake Gairdner National Park and leading to Queensland.
Meanwhile, NASA signed a deal with the National Nuclear Security Administration earlier this month. The deal is to find a nuclear option if they discover an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth.
Likewise, the European Space Agency summoned a meeting Tuesday with emergency response officers from Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom to discuss options in dealing with the potential asteroid threat.
In order to increase awareness in asteroid impact prevention, Asteroid Day 2015 also paved a way for a campaign called "100X Declaration." The statement aims to increase efforts by 100 times to detect and monitor potentially hazardous asteroids, The Space Reporter noted.
