UN Lawyer Ready for Asteroid Armageddon

Aarti Holla-Maini, director of the UN's Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa), is responsible for alerting the UN secretary general in the event of an asteroid threat. This role was tested when asteroid 2024 YR4 was identified on December 27, 2024, as a potential collision course with Earth. Over three weeks, its impact probability increased to over 1% for a 2032 impact, necessitating the UN's first global notification since its planetary defence collaboration began in 2013. This event highlighted the real-world implications of space threats, similar to the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor event. Unoosa, a small but efficient office in Vienna, also manages satellite registrations and acts as a crucial point of contact for preventing orbital collisions. They recently facilitated the avoidance of a close encounter between a Malaysian and a North Korean satellite in June, showcasing their critical function in managing space traffic.