Will I get hit by a meteor?

Will I get hit by a meteor?

Author: BBC World Service August 1, 2026 Duration: 37:00

Stare up at the night sky, and if you’re lucky, you might see a shooting star. Some people might make a wish, but CrowdScience listener Scott in California in the USA, thinks differently. He’s wondering how dangerous they might be.

Shooting stars are actually meteors, ending their incredible journey whizzing through the depths of space by burning through our atmosphere, and crashing down to earth. And Scott’s not wrong to worry about them! In May 2026, an enormous meteor exploded off the coast of Massachusetts, causing a loud sonic boom before crashing into the ocean, releasing the equivalent energy of 300 tons of TNT!

So, should we be worried? Marnie Chesterton is on the case.

In Australia, Hadrien Devillepoix is the chief scientist for the Desert Fireball Network, which tracks meteors through the sky, and tries to recover any meteorites which make it to earth. He explains just how many of these smaller space rocks arrive on our planet every day, how many of them survive long enough to make it to the surface, and tries to figure out how much should we be worried about it happening to us.

Over in the USA, NASA are less worried about the meteors, and more concerned about their big brothers – asteroids. These are the ones which could take out your whole neighbourhood. Or your whole city. Or even the whole planet. Kelly Fast, with NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office explains what the chances are one might be headed our way, and what we could do about it if they are. Push them away, pull them off course, or blow them up, are the options on the table.

But space rocks, small OR large, aren’t the only things which could be tumbling down on our heads from outside our atmosphere. In fact, you might be more likely to be hit but something of our own – a man-made piece of space junk, falling out of orbit and whizzing towards the surface. Stephen Wokes, chief engineer at Astroscale, explains their mission: to use their innovative satellite to clean up Low Earth Orbit, and reduce the risk to us here on the ground.

PRESENTER: Marnie Chesterton

PRODUCER: Emily Knight

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Stuart Laws

EDITOR: Ben Motley

(photo: Meteor Impact On Earth - Fired Asteroid In Collision With Planet - Contain 3d Rendering - elements of this image furnished by NASA - stock photo- Credit: RomoloTavani via Getty Images)


Curiosity drives discovery, and CrowdScience from the BBC World Service is built entirely on that principle. Each episode begins not with a scripted lesson, but with a question sent in by a listener from anywhere in the world. These aren't simple queries with easy answers; they are the wonderfully complex, often quirky puzzles about everyday phenomena and cosmic mysteries that make us all stop and wonder. What does silence sound like? Could we ever photosynthesize like plants? How does a crowd's mood physically spread? The team then embarks on a genuine investigative journey, tracking down the specialists at the very edge of our understanding-neuroscientists, ecologists, physicists, and engineers-to piece together credible, compelling answers. Listening to this podcast feels like having a direct line to the labs and field sites where knowledge is being created. The conversations are deep yet accessible, transforming abstract concepts into relatable stories. It’s a collective exploration where listener curiosity sets the agenda, making each episode a unique and democratic look at the machinery of our world and beyond. You become part of a global community pondering life, Earth, and the universe, one thoughtful question at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

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