The anti-asteroid safety system was tested with a 30-meter asteroid.

Most recently, asteroid 2012 TC4 with a diameter of 15 to 30 meters passed by the Earth. At this time, the participants of the International Asteroids Warning Network (IAWN) tested the technology of tracking dangerous objects.

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The asteroid 2012 TC4 was opened by the Pan-STARRS Observatory in Hawaii in 2012. Astronomers predicted that the object would approach a minimum distance to Earth in the fall of 2017. October 12, at 8:40 am Moscow time, an asteroid flew over Antarctica at a distance of 42 thousand kilometers. This is about 0.1 distance between our planet and the Moon and only slightly above the orbits of geostationary satellites (35.7 thousand kilometers).

The international asteroids warning network was established in 2014. The project participants include the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, NASA, ESA, ESO, as well as the Institutes of Astronomy in South Korea and Mexico. The main task of IAWN is early detection of dangerous near-Earth objects. Despite the fact that the 2012 TC4 was not a threat, its design trajectory contained some inaccuracies, so the researchers chose the asteroid as an object for observation.

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Participants in the IAWN project monitored the celestial body in the optical, near-infrared and radio bands. According to Michael Kelley, a scientist from NASA's Department of Planetary Sciences, technology testing has been successful. The aerospace agency does not disclose other details.

Previously, NASA proposed using artificial intelligence to determine the orbits of potentially dangerous comets. According to the models, in the past, the collision of the Earth with the asteroid led to a large number of earthquakes, tsunamis and increased volcanic activity.