The K-T impact killed 75% of all life on Earth.
This is the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that killed the Dinosaurs 66 million years ago, caused by an asteroid or comet the size of Mt. Everest impacting Earth near the Yucatán Peninsula.
Vizualization credit: Industrial Light & Magic, Netflix, used with permission
We’re working every day to ensure this never happens again.
Our Minor Planet Center tracks the orbits of all currently known Potentially Hazardous Objects with the highest likelihood of
impacting Earth.
An impact by any one of these objects (marked with blue orbits in this animation) would be the single most devastating disaster in all of human history. And yes, some are large enough to end all life on Earth.
We coordinate with NASA and global partners, marshaling human ingenuity in the defense of Earth.
The CfA serves as a global nexus for Planetary Defense Coordination as the official worldwide location for receipt and distribution of positional measurements of minor planets, comets and outer irregular natural satellites of the major planets. Funded partly by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, we’re responsible for the identification, designation, orbit computation, and data publication for all of these objects. We work with partners and facilities worldwide (including the upcoming Rubin Observatory), and play major roles in space-based Defense missions like DART and the upcoming NEO Surveyor.
Meanwhile, the number of human-made satellites is growing exponentially.
Since the start of the commercial space era, the number of functional satellites has tripled to more than 8000. Space companies have publicly announced plans for the launch of up to 400,000 satellites by 2030, and nations worldwide continue to place defense-related satellites in orbit. In addition, more than one million debris fragments larger than 1 centimeter may already orbit the Earth. Hostile events, such as destructive antisatellite weapons tests, or accidental collisions or failures threaten to increase these numbers, potentially leading to a devastating Kessler Event.
With Space Situational Awareness an ever more critical pillar of National and global defense, we’ll soon be announcing something new…
We’ve got major plans to grow our global partnerships in defense of our home planet. We’ll need your help. Join us.