This is the same asteroid that they thought would hit the Earth in 2029 and then they retracted that statement a few days later.
If the probability of impact does go up, I wonder just how much political fighting there will be over budgets, methods and the actual need to try to divert this asteroid. There's always going to be someone that disagrees that it will actually hit Earth. Not that I think there is a conspiracy, but the timing of this news is very coincidental after the successful comet impact. If I were going to try to win support for a mission to divert an asteroid, I think I would have waited until after a successful mission too. NASA Concerned Over Approaching Asteroid Large Space Rock May Collide With Earth in 2036 By PETER N. SPOTTS Jul. 26, 2005 - Humans live in a vast solar system where 2,000 feet seems a razor-thin distance. Yet it's just wide enough to trigger concerns that an asteroid due to buzz Earth on April 13, 2029 may shift its orbit enough to return and strike the planet seven years later. The concern: Within the object's range of possible fly-by distances lie a handful of gravitational "sweet spots," areas some 2,000 feet across that are also known as keyholes. The physics may sound complex, but the potential ramifications are plain enough. If the asteroid passes through the most probable keyhole, its new orbit would send it slamming into Earth in 2036. It's unclear to some experts whether ground-based observatories alone will be able to provide enough accurate information in time to mount a mission to divert the asteroid, if that becomes necessary. So NASA researchers have begun considering whether the United States needs to tag the asteroid, known as 99942 Apophis, with a radio beacon before 2013 Complete article.... http://tinyurl.com/7hybu http://makeashorterlink.com/?C21A2268B http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/CSM/story?id=976463&page=1 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
