Join the University of Liverpool’s space engineers for a fascinating day of discovery as they celebrate World Asteroid Day on Monday, 30 June.
Asteroid Day is a global event supported by the United Nations held annually on 30 June to raise awareness about asteroids—their risks, their scientific value, and humanity’s efforts to understand and mitigate their potential threat. The date commemorates the Tunguska event, Earth’s largest recorded asteroid impact, which occurred over Siberia in 1908.
The University’s special event will feature live talks, hands-on demonstrations, and expert insights, led by Dr Stefania Soldini, UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Associate Professor in Space Engineering. Dr Soldini is an internationally recognised expert in asteroid research and planetary defence.
Dr Soldini has contributed to several major international missions, including her work on asteroid Ryugu (JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission), which she helped survey for 18 months while in Japan. She has also collaborated with both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) on key asteroid missions.
One of her major involvements was with DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), the world’s first full-scale planetary defence mission, which successfully altered the orbit of an asteroid by crashing a spacecraft into it. This historic achievement demonstrated, for the first time, that asteroid deflection is possible-offering a promising method to protect Earth from future threats.
During both the morning and afternoon sessions, Dr Soldini will share insights from these missions and preview upcoming efforts, including preparations for the highly anticipated 2029 Earth flyby of Apophis asteroid a truly historical event. 2029 has been designated by the UN as the “International Year of Asteroid Awareness and Planetary Defence”.
The event will feature hands-on activities, informal Q&A sessions, and a special screening of BBC Sky at Night: Asteroid Strike.
The day concludes with an exclusive guest talk by Dr Ashley King at 3pm from the Natural History Museum, London. Dr King will present behind-the-scenes perspectives from the OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2 sample-return missions—two landmark projects that brought asteroid material back to Earth.
Asteroid Day at the University of Liverpool
Monday, 30 June, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Walker Lecture Theatre, Harrison Hughes Building, 150 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool
To register, visit:
Eventbrite – Asteroid Day Tickets
About Asteroid Day:
Asteroid Day was co-founded by astrophysicist and Queen guitarist Dr Brian May, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, filmmaker Grig Richters, and Danica Remy, President of the B612 Foundation. It serves as a global movement to promote education and awareness around asteroids and planetary defence.