In my entire life time, I have never won Toto or 4D before. Which, by the way, is about 0.006666666% chance of happening.
Sometimes life just presents these Toto like odds to you now and then. Something may or may not happen.
And if I were to strike a Toto-like odd, I hope it isn’t this particular one.
1 In 3800 Or 0.026% Chance Of Hitting Earth On 6 May 2022
That’s right, people. NASA just decided to tell us that we have a greater chance of being hit by an asteroid than randomly striking it rich through Toto.
Which means… We’re all gonna die.
Or maybe you’re optimistic and think that translates to more than 99% chance of the discovered asteroid not hitting Earth.
If you’re one of these people, hey, keep up the positive outlook. But for the rest of us this is like discovering a tumour and having the doctor go “alright, there’s a 99.99% chance this is just a mole.”
Since I’m packing my bags and handing in my resignation to book a 3 year holiday to Europe with my life savings, here are some more facts you might want to know in my last article before we all become space trash.
It’s 128m Wide; An Impact Would 15 Times Larger Than The Hiroshima Atomic Bomb
Why did they choose to use the Pyramid as a measuring unit? Don’t ask me. I’ve never seen the Great Pyramid before, so I have no idea how big that is.
But one thing you’d want to know is that it’s 420ft (128m) across, and assuming it hits Earth, it would strike with a force of 230 kilotons (230,000 tonnes of TNT).
The atomic bomb on Hiroshima was about 15 kilotons of TNT.
And just to bring the point across again; that’s 15 times of Hiroshima if it hits.
Oh, and by the way, the asteroid is known as JF1.
But, Uh… What Will Happen If It Does Hit?
The obvious thing to say is that people will die. If it hits a populated area, that’s an instant wipe out and millions of deaths.
But, most of the Earth is water anyway right? Then we’re good, right???
Nope. Even if it were to hit the most remote part of the Pacific Ocean, it will still result in devastating tsunamis and a “nuclear winter” that could severely impact life on Earth.
Let me save you that Google: Wikipedia says “Nuclear winter is a severe and prolonged global climatic cooling effect hypothesized to occur after widespread firestorms following a nuclear war.”
A global climatic cooling effect? Maybe that’s the universe’s solution to global warming and climate change.
Hold on a second. Surely somebody is trying to do something about this right?
Researchers And Engineers Working On Mission To Deflect Space Rocks
How exactly are they going to do this? Are they going to gather all the Nokia phones we have to build a barrier? Do we gather our energies to launch a Kamehameha and destroy the asteroid to smithereens?
It’s actually quite simple in the mission called the Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA).
And this mission is going to be tested on a pre-selected double asteroid called Didymos to “prove the technique as a viable method of planetary defence”.
Planetary defence? That sounds like we’re being attacked by aliens or something.
A spacecraft will be launched to crash into the space rock, then a second ship will assess the crash and gather data on the effects of the collision.
But Before You Breathe A Sigh Of Relief…
Here are another four dates to mark in your calendar.
That’s right, you didn’t see the probabilities wrong. There’s another one coming in 2040, at a probability of 1/625.
NASA wants to assure us that 1/625 is “very unlikely odds”.
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And then again, the chance of a shiny Pokemon is about 1 in 8000.
Yeah, I guess the mid-40s might be a good age to die.
