NASA has outlined what it could do, and in what time frame, in
case a quarter-mile-wide asteroid named Apophis is on a course to
slam into Earth in the year 2036. Eight years from now, if there's
still a chance of a collision in 2036, NASA would start drawing up
plans to put a probe on the space rock or in orbit around it in
2019. If those readings still could not rule out a strike in 2036,
NASA would try to deflect the asteroid into a non-threatening
course in the 2024-2028 time frame by firing an impactor at it
using this year's Deep Impact comet-blasting probe as a model.
Apophis was an unusual case among potentially threatening
asteroids, in that it would take a relatively small deflection to
eliminate the possibility of a catastrophic collision. In
statistical terms, the risk of an impact is now set at 1 in 5,560 -
based on the uncertainties surrounding Apophis' orbit
1/5560 chance. wun la. toto also nvr so suay
