Why Asteroid Day?
In December 2016 the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/71/90, declaring 30 June International Asteroid Day in order to « observe each year at the international level the anniversary of the Tunguska impact over Siberia, Russian Federation, on 30 June 1908, and to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard. »
International Asteroid Day aims to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard and to inform the public about the crisis communication actions to be taken at the global level in case of a credible near-Earth object threat.
The General Assembly’s decision was made based on a proposal by the Association of Space Explorers, which was endorsed by Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).
Background
Near-Earth objects (NEOs) represent potentially catastrophic threats to our planet. NEO is an asteroid or comet, which passes close to the Earth’s orbit. According to NASA’s Center for NEO Studies, there are over 16 000 Near Earth Asteroids discovered. The Tunguska asteroid event in Siberia, Russian Federation, on 30 June 1908, was the Earth’s largest asteroid impact in recorded history.
On 15 February 2013, a large fireball (technically, called a « superbolide »), traveling at a velocity of 18.6 kilometers per second, entered the atmosphere and disintegrated in the skies over Chelyabinsk. According to NASA, the approximate effective diameter of the asteroid was estimated at 18 meters and its mass at 11,000 tons. The Chelyabinsk event was an extraordinarily large fireball, the most energetic impact event recognized since the 1908 Tunguska blast in Russian Siberia.
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has worked on NEOs for many years, recognising a NEO impact hazard as a global issue demanding an international response.