View image in fullscreen Holla-Maini in front of the plenary hall at the Vienna International Centre. Photograph: Fabian Weiss/The GuardianYet in this case, the asteroid, emotionlessly named 2024 YR4, was seen as a growing threat. At Unoosa, she is the point of contact for planetary defence (an asteroid in the asteroid belt is named after her). Nor is it very big: 35 employees work out of the modest Vienna International Centre, far from the more lively UN hubs in Geneva and New York. The 2024 YR4 asteroid scare served as a useful test for Unoosa’s relatively new role in planetary defence.

Source: The Guardian March 30, 2026 10:21 UTC