The head of Russia's space agency proposed sending up a spacecraft to deflect Apophis, an asteroid that may have 1 in 37 chance of hitting Earth in 2029:
NASA thinks that the chance of impact is only 1 in 250,000.
Link via Geekologie | Photo: Asteroid Gaspra, via NASA
"People's lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and build a system that would allow us to prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people," Perminov said.
Scientists have long theorized about asteroid deflection strategies. Some have proposed sending a probe to circle around a dangerous asteroid to gradually change its trajectory. Others suggested sending a spacecraft to collide with the asteroid and alter its momentum, or hitting it with nuclear weapons.
NASA thinks that the chance of impact is only 1 in 250,000.
Link via Geekologie | Photo: Asteroid Gaspra, via NASA
But with a slight twist though...it's mother russia to teh rescue....
IN SOVIET RUSSIA ASTEROID BLOWS YOU UP!!
Yay for Stargate sg-1 reference! :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torino_Scale