- Joined
- Feb 24, 2004
- Messages
- 11,353
- Reaction score
- 6
Russian scientists last week said that the Apophis asteroid may collide with the earth in 2036 but a report came out this week which said the chance of it striking the earth is highly unlikely.
And, if the object gets close enough, it would be a good research opportunity, a space scientist told the International Business Times.
Apophis, at its closest point in 2029, will be at least 18,300 miles away from the Earth. Dan Durda, a scientist with the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, told the Times that he submitted a proposal to NASA to send a spacecraft to the asteroid and learn more about it.
"It's a real chance to study this kind of object," Durda told the publication.
Durda added that a mission to probe the asteroid would have to be launched in 2021 due to Apophis’s tilted orbit.
Apophis Asteroid Not a Danger but
If it will come closer of earth, Russian and American missiles should hit it.
