'Asteroid hitting earth a real possibility,' says ISRO as 'Apophis' to pass by earth in 2029

A gigantic near-earth asteroid is set to pass by on April 13, 2029, and again in 2036. Named Apophis, this asteroid is known to be the most 'hazardous' at the moment, with a diameter of 370 meters.

According to a report by News18, any asteroid of 10 km or bigger has the ability of greater impact on the planet and can lead to an extinction scale event.

ISRO chief S Somnath said that such events of an asteroid approaching planets are frequent and if such a thing happens on earth, there are possibilities of extinction.

"Our lifespan is 70-80 years and we don’t see such catastrophe in our lifetime, so we take it for granted that these are not likely. If you look at the history of the world and universe, these events are frequent…approach of an asteroid towards planets and its impact," he said.

He also said that humans need to prepare themselves for such an event and save Mother Earth by finding alternatives and deflect it.

He said, "We must prepare ourselves. We don’t want it to happen to Mother Earth. We want humanity and all life forms to live here. But we can’t stop it. We have to find alternatives to it. So, we have a method by which we can deflect it."

The chief then said that there are ways to detect near-earth objects, however, sometimes it is impossible to take it away. He believes that there is a need to bring in development in technology, predict such events, 'send heavier props to deflect it', and jointly working with nations for protocols.

ISRO has previously initiated activities for planetary defence. Believing that humanity will come together during such threats, ISRO chief said, "It’s not just for India alone, it’s for the whole world that we need to take the onus on us to prepare and develop technical capability, programming capability to do that and ability to work with other agencies."