As Comet 3I/Atlas hurtles past Earth and Clash of Clans is threatened by looming asteroids, YouTube scientist Hank Green says we're detecting more objects in space than ever before — but should we really be worried?

18 years ago, NASA lost an asteroid. The Empire State Building-sized rock, officially named 2007 FT3, was tracked for about 24 hours before it slipped back into the darkness of the solar system, and has never been seen since. It remains the fourth largest space object with a greater than 1 in 2 million chance of hitting Earth, but scientists are still not sure where it is now.

This year, the Internet has taken a huge interest in 3I/ATLAS—the third interstellar object ever detected, and the third since 2017. (The overwhelming scientific consensus indicates that 3I/ATLAS is a comet, although a rogue astrophysicist has suggested that it is an alien spacecraft, sparking endless speculation online.)

Now, as NASA releases the latest images from 3I/ATLAS this week and the search for 2007 FT3 continues, one thing is for sure: We're finding more things flying in space than before. YouTube scientist and author Hank Green told IGN that's a good thing because it shows we're getting better at spotting them. But how prepared are we for an event in orbit that collides with Earth, and should we be worried that space is actually much busier than we think?

When IGN asked why new asteroid and comet discoveries seem to be more common now than ever, Greene began: “First of all, we're better at finding them than ever.” “Literally, like two weeks ago, Vera Rubin Rubin (a new observatory in Chile that houses the largest camera ever). We now have three different systems to detect different threats, so that if we were to be hit by a really big rock, like a dinosaur-sized one, it's amazing that for all this ignorance we had so far, we now have certainty.

“But occasionally, there's enough uncertainty about a particular rock, it's big enough, that if it hits the wrong spot, it's going to be really bad,” he continued. “And there are a lot more of these issues than big issues. So we have to continue to be vigilant and we have to figure out what we're going to do if we do find an issue that might cause a problem.”

Earlier this year, Green was approached by Supercell, the developer of the hit smartphone game Clash of Clans, with a novel idea. The city-building strategy app is planning an in-game event that threatens players' hard-built bases to be destroyed by an asteroid. And not just any asteroid: it will be the long-lost 2007 FT3.

A few months later, the event is now live, starting with a gorgeous trailer in which the mystery of 2007's FT3 appears to be explained. in the world clash of clansthe rock's disappearance was revealed to be Green's doing, as he digitally knocked the asteroid off Earth, sending it flying into the Clash of Clans universe. Now, all these years later, the asteroid is finally close enough to the world of Clash that it becomes your problem.

“Using this old science story, I thought it was clever and had a neat element to it,” Green said of his involvement, which was sparked by the 2007 search for FT3. “But mostly it was, 'I've never done anything like this before, I've never gone to L.A. to make a small movie.'” Everyone was involved, as was the director and the third assistant director. Very wild. I feel like I learned a lot about how things are made and what I'm capable of.

“And,” he added, referring to the prosthetics he wears to look ten years younger, “this is the first time I've ever used alcohol-based gum.”

Sadly, however, pointing giant lasers at the sky and digitizing asteroids is not an effective way to stop real-world apocalyptic rocks. At least not yet. So what should we do if a dangerous-looking space object is discovered despite adequate warning?

“We've already started doing this work,” Green said. “We've sent probes to hit asteroids to very slightly change their trajectories, and the benefit of that is that if you capture them when they're far away, that small change in trajectory is enough. We've done the first of these missions, and we've shown that we can do it.”

All of this still relies on finding the rock first, but Green is very confident. “It's possible that something could come from a strange interaction somewhere in the far reaches of the solar system, a comet could come by unexpectedly, and we don't track those asteroids very well, but as far as asteroids go, the big ones are easy to spot.”

Comets are trickier because they typically have longer orbits and spend a lot of time lurking in the outer solar system (or beyond, as shown in 3I/ATLAS). But Green is not overly worried about this. ATLAS was discovered by the Asteroid Detection System (in explaining this, he mentioned the abbreviation Comet, which stands for the Asteroid Earth Impact Last Alert System that discovered it). What's another thing about Earth? Well, the space is really, really big.

“When we actually activate Vera Rubin, we'll probably start detecting more interstellar objects, and we'll learn that they've been flying through the solar system,” said Green, who estimates that single digits of interstellar objects will be discovered passing through the solar system each year.

“But to the extent that they pose a potential threat, the odds are huge… There are already so many rocks in the solar system that are close enough that they could be potential problems, but none of them are because Earth is so small compared to the size of the solar system,” Green affirmed.

All that's needed are some snippets of location data, Green explained, and scientists can start modeling whether any objects might become problematic in the coming decades or centuries, “because the solar system is almost Newtonian, so it's pretty much just doing physics.”

Or, back in Clash of Clans, all you had to do was hit things with a hammer – which seemed more convenient. Happily, the game's ongoing campaign has progressed to the point where players have successfully completed the meteor capture device, though at least one meteor fragment has landed, helping to bring about a new town hall.

“It can be scary at first because you can see some of the things people do and think 'I'm never going to get there,'” Green said of the game. “It's like seeing someone do a backflip and thinking, 'That's great for you, but I'm nowhere near that.'” But what's great about the structure of it is that it really keeps you engaged and pulls you out of the early stages[of gameplay]when your town hall looks like a villager's house. “

Will the real 2007 FT3 be discovered? Green seems confident about it. NASA has lost asteroids before, and usually sees them again within a few decades—and none of them were in collisions. “As we can see, we were able to detect 3I/ATLAS very early in the process,” he concluded. “But I'm certainly in favor of having a system ready to go, just in case.”

Tom Phillips is IGN's news editor. You can contact Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social