'The only thing preventing a catastrophe from a city-killer size asteroid is blind luck': Nasa astronauts to reveal evidence that large-scale asteroids have hit Earth 10 times more often than previously thought over past decade



Group claims that 26 asteroid explosions have occurred since 2001



Asteroids 'not rare' but have fallen in remote locations, group says

Revelations will be made next week in Seattle by B216 Foundation



Nasa experts have found evidence that large-scale asteroids have struck Earth three to ten times more often over the past decade than previously thought.



The evidence, which will presented by three former Nasa employees, including two astronauts, will reveal the full extent of the explosions which they claim have shaken countries across the world.



At the event, experts will announce that the only thing 'preventing a city-killer size asteroid is blind luck'.

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This map shows the locations where asteroids have hit the planet from 3.5 million years ago until 2013

An artists impression of an asteroid colliding with earth. Next week, Nasa astronauts will reveal the full extent of the explosions which have shaken countries across the world

The presentation, due to be held the same day as Earth Day, which reminds people of the importance of protecting the environment, will reveal the findings of the nuclear weapons warning network.

Asteroids are sometimes referred to as small planets and there are believed to millions in the solar system.



They are solid and formed of rock-like material, thought to have been left over from the time the planets were first formed.



The group says that since 2001 it has detected 26 explosions, which it claims are down to asteroids hitting the planet.



The only reason, the group claims, that the explosions have not been in the public eye is because they have taken place in remote locations.

Phys.org revealed that the group, named B612 Foundation, will present its findings at Seattle's Museum of Flight.



The Chelyabinsk meteorite contrail was seen in the sky above the Russian city. The meteor injured hundreds of people The meteorite left a 20-foot hole in a frozen lake where it fell outside the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia

A recent press release from the foundation's CEO, Ed Lu, a physicist who worked for Nasa until 2007, states: 'This network has detected 26 multi-kiloton explosions since 2001, all of which are due to asteroid impacts.



'It shows that asteroid impacts are NOT rare—but actually three to 10 times more common than we previously thought.



'The fact that none of these asteroid impacts shown in the video was detected in advance is proof that the only thing preventing a catastrophe from a 'city-killer' sized asteroid is blind luck.



The goal of the B612 Sentinel mission is to find and track asteroids decades before they hit Earth, allowing us to easily deflect them.'

An illustration of an asteroid heading towards Earth. One asteroid, believed to have hit Earth 3.26 billion years ago, was 36 miles wide, which scientists said was six times bigger than the blast which wiped out dinosaurs

Mr Lu will present the findings with Space Shuttle astronaut Tom Jones and Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders.



Most of the recorded asteroid impacts happened millions of years ago.



One asteroid, believed to have hit Earth 3.26 billion years ago, was 36 miles wide, which scientists said was six times bigger than the blast which wiped out dinosaurs.



Researchers said that the impact of the asteroid would have boiled oceans, burned the sky, and caused the planet to shake for 30 minutes.

More recently, in February 2013, an asteorid, believed to have been 19-metres wide and weighing 100,000 tonnes, hit the province of Chelyabisk in Russia injuring hundreds of people. The asteroid was the biggest to have hit Earth in 100 years.



In February 2014, a 270 metre asteroid, the size of three football pitches, also sped past the earth.

In 1998 film Armageddon, featuring Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis, Willis, plays a Nasa astronaut who sacrifices his life to plant a bomb on an asteroid so that it does not hit the planet.

The asteroid, which is the size of Texas in the film, would obliterate the Earth and all of its inhabitants.

In 1998 film Armageddon, featuring Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis, Willis, plays a Nasa astronaut who sacrifices his life to plant a bomb on an asteroid so that it does not hit the planet