If a deadly asteroid takes aim at Earth, the United Nations will be on the case. The UN General Assembly last week agreed to set up an International Asteroid Warning Group that will compile and share information about potentially dangerous space rocks. Should an asteroid place our planet in peril, a UN committee will discuss options and oversee plans to launch a deflection mission.
The news was welcomed by the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), a group of astronauts and cosmonauts that has been calling for more planetary defence measures. Asteroid detection and deflection has become a higher international priority since a surprise meteor exploded
over the Russian region of Chelyabinsk earlier this year, causing injuries to nearly 1500 people.
"Chelyabinsk was bad luck," said former astronaut Ed Lu during an ASE event in New York City on 25 October. "If we get hit again 20 years from now, that is not bad luck – that's stupidity."
To read more, click here.