[piytar]

BTW, I think this would be WAY cool if it happened.

And to someone who asked, no, there is no real chance that this could hurt us here on Earth — asteroid isn’t big enough for some type of shrapnel or bank-shot effect. Now, if it BARELY misses and skips off of Mars’ atmosphere, it could be deflected toward Earth, but the odds are VERY VERY VERY VERY small. Mars’ atmosphere isn’t really dense enough, and we are a TINY target at that range.

[cripplecreek]

I believe the asteroid is outbound toward mars anyway.

[hunter112]

Now, if it BARELY misses and skips off of Mars’ atmosphere, it could be deflected toward Earth, but the odds are VERY VERY VERY VERY small. Mars’ atmosphere isn’t really dense enough, and we are a TINY target at that range.

That's a shot that even Minnesota Fats couldn't make!

Here's my stupid question: If we can shoot satellites at Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc. with a very high degree of probability that they will arrive there, how can we only have a 1 in 75 chance of predicting that this asteroid will hit Mars?