Planning Earth’s defence against cosmic objects

When a 2-metre-wide asteroid hit Earth’s atmosphere in March, it didn’t come as a complete surprise.

Two hours before asteroid 2022 EB5 made its impact, Krisztián Sarneczky at Hungary’s Piszkéstető observatory reported the small object to the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center. It was posted and flagged for additional observations. NASA’s ‘Scout’ impact assessment system automatically took those observations and calculated the trajectory, giving a possible impact location: from Western Greenland to off the coast of Norway.