Only in the movies do we hear about saving the earth from an asteroid crashing into our planet and destroying it. A news report published in the News and Observer in March, 2007, describes a study by NASA and the Air Force to ways to prevent such a crash by by destroying or change the course of an asteroid named "Apophis". Named for "an ancient Egyptian god of evil, Apophis is about 900 feet long -- three times the length of a football field -- and is traveling at 12,000 mph."It further states "In the past eight years, 754 asteroids bigger than 1 kilometer (six-tenths of a mile) across have been detected orbiting near Earth. But none is expected to come as close as a smaller one called Apophis, which was discovered just before Christmas in 2004."
An exerpt from the article follows...
News and Observer
March 6, 2007
Experts ponder moving asteroid
Robert S. Boyd -WASHINGTON - NASA and the Air Force are studying ways to ward off a medium-sized asteroid that will streak within 18,000 miles of Earth in 2029 and that has an extremely slight chance of crashing into our planet in 2036.Ideas discussed at a Planetary Defense Conference this week include a "gravity tug" or "space tractor" that would hover near the space rock and tow it into a safe orbit. Other possibilities include a head-on collision with an unmanned spaceship or a nuclear explosion. Read more...
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