In 7 years, an asteroid could “knock” satellites out of orbit (4 photos + 2 videos)
Let's start this Saturday with space news. It's been a while since scientists scared us, we've already relaxed. 
Imagine: December 2032, the Moon is shining peacefully in the night sky... and suddenly - BAM! An asteroid the size of a 15-story building crashes into it, exploding with a force of 6.5 megatons (that's like 300 Hiroshimas!).
A crater the size of a whole kilometer, and 100 thousand tons of lunar dust and rocks fly into space. Beautiful? Beautiful.
Well, this is approximately what NASA scientists are warning about, like, don't relax, citizens, there is a chance of an asteroid colliding with the Moon. After new data obtained from the James Webb Space Telescope, the probability has increased from 3.8% to 4.3%.
The debris and dust can damage orbital vehicles, and will be suffered by everyone who is in orbit at that moment, from GPS navigation systems to space stations. Scientists are confident that the consequences will last for 10 years, and space will become like a "minefield" for technology.
But there is no threat to earthlings, the atmosphere will reliably protect us from any consequences of the impact. Even if the asteroid reaches the Moon (and the chance of this is only 4.3%), there is no threat to our planet. Neither dust nor fragments will break through the atmospheric shield.
The best we can expect is a spectacular space show in the form of a meteor shower. And the probability that 2024 YR4 will ever collide with Earth is absolutely minuscule, about 0.0039% (that's 25 thousand times less than the chance of winning the lottery!). So we can breathe a sigh of relief and just watch the events unfold.
