Asteroid to make closest-ever approach to Earth
Asteroid 2012 DA14 will be closer to Earth than some satellites (Picture: Nasa/YouTube)

Next Friday a 40m-long asteroid is expected to pass closer to the Earth than any other object ever recorded, Nasa scientists are due to say.

The space agency is holding a press conference later today to confirm the news, with reports suggesting Asteroid 2012 DA14 will be 17,000 miles from the planet on February 15.

At that distance from the Earth, the asteroid will be closer than the orbit of some satellites and weather systems.

Nasa has reassuringly claimed there is ‘no chance of that the asteroid might be on a collision course with Earth’ while claiming it was a ‘record close approach for a known object of this size’.

Commenting on the near miss, physicist and former astronaut Edward T. Lu said: ‘For every one we know about, there are about 100 more we don’t know about.

‘We have to find the other 99. Once we find an asteroid it is possible for us to predict its trajectory. We know the government wants to discover asteroids big enough to wipe out the planet, but we also want to find those that could wipe out a city the size of New York, or Hong Kong, or Houston.’

Mr Lu has come up with a scheme to avoid any potential Armageddon and asteroids ever hitting the Earth, suggesting a rocket could be launched into the same orbit as the rock and be used to push the asteroid off course.

‘You don’t have to change much. One hundred thousandth of a mile an hour is enough, 10 years ahead of time, to cause an asteroid to miss the rendezvous with Earth,’ he said.

‘We have been given a gift, the ability to protect our planet. We shouldn’t squander it.’

Gallery: Latest NASA images