A lawyer's dream.
A lawyer's dream.
Too true. Perhaps WAY too soon. I fear the European Space Agency's Don Quijote mission the article discusses is trying to change the orbit of the wrong asteroid. They want to hit Apophis (aka 2004 MN4) when it makes it certain to barely miss us pass in 2029. Some here will recall this was the asteroid, found during the tsunami story, that had its predicted risk of hitting us in 2029 grow to 1/37 before that pass was proven to be safe. However, depending on precisely where it passes in 2029 it could become a nearly sure hit in 2036. We may not be able to predict 2036 with confidence until after the 2029 pass unless we stick a transponder on it before then. Something the article doesn't mention as planned. I suppose The Guardian could have things wrong. Again. The experts aren't sure that the potential earth based visual and radar observations can alone provide good enough data to rule out a 2036 hit before 2029. So ESA, without adequate data on the baseline orbit could accidentally provide precisely the wrong push. Do we really want the motto, "In ESA we trust?"
I favor practicing practicing Asteroid moving, but barring an emergency we should start practicing on ones safely inside Earth's orbit. There human error can't hurt us. If we are going to be sending missions to earth crossing asteroids anyway than Apophis is as good a one as any to visit and, while we're there, tag with a transponder.
For those wanting more information on potential risks from Apophis there is an excellent article in the July/August 2005 The Planetary Report. However you need to join the Planetary Society to receive that and this text isn't online at their website even for members. At least this member couldn't find it there.