Over the decades, there had been many speculations about the possibility that a large asteroid will hit Earth and wipe out the human race just as how it did to dinosaurs as theorized by scientists. But what will happen to Earth if this indeed happens?
A report from the Guardian has clearly indicated that the world is unprepared for any catastrophic event caused by large asteroids hitting the Earth. A NASA scientist had warned that there is not much that can be done at the moment to potentially "stop" any asteroid from hitting Earth.
It has been reported that there had been two near misses of an asteroid hitting a planet in the Solar System, one closely hitting Jupiter in 1996 and the other in 2014 which was a significantly close distance to Mars. During this time, we did not have enough time and the appropriate technology to potentially "deflect" it.
Business Insider explained that if a gigantic asteroid half a mile wide will hit the Earth in the near future, it would definitely cause major damage. It would first release worldwide earthquakes and release so much energy equivalent to billions of tons of explosives. Furthermore, it would definitely kill vegetation and animals right away. As for the fate of the people, billions may die instantly. The others who would survive would not last too long as sources of food will become scarce.
The Planetary Defense Coordination Office was established by NASA to monitor large-sized asteroids or comets that are in close proximity to Earth. It also developed the Asteroid Redirect Mission or ARM, which has been questioned by many scientists. It is reportedly within the ARM's goal to potentially send humans to Mars, perhaps to save mankind from any possible disaster should an asteroid hit Earth.