When the atmosphere isn't enough Why has life flourished on Earth, but nowhere else - that we know of - in the Solar System? The answer is our delicately thin, but hugely consequential atmosphere. Ask the dinosaurs however, and they would say it’s not to be relied upon. That’s what ESA’s Space Safety programme is working on, being there when the atmosphere isn’t enough. The dinosaurs didn't have a space agency The Chicxulub impact some 66 million years ago shows us that enormous asteroids many kilometres in diameter survive the fiery journey through Earth’s atmosphere, wreaking havoc on the entire planet.