ASTEROID MAY HIT EARTH IN 2036...but no worries...

According to a February 19, 2007 article (available here: http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=264972007 ) there's a giant-ass asteroid heading in our general direction. The article reports that it has a one in 45,000 chance of hitting us. On an astronomical scale, that's tremendously bad for us. The "good" news is that there is a plan to make sure the asteroid, Apophis, from slamming into us.

Scientists say that there should be a space mission to the asteroid, according to the article:

using a vessel called a "gravity tractor" - to knock Apophis off course.

I'm not sure what a "gravity tractor" is, though I suspect it is NOT some sort of tractor beam, a la Star Trek or Star Wars. Even Wikipedia doesn't know what a gravity tractor is. Luckily, the article gives us an "official" definition:

Scientists believe that a gravity tractor - a spaceship which flies alongside the asteroid - is the best way to neutralise the threat of Apophis.

A gravity tractor spaceship exerts a slight pull on the targeted mass, slowly pulling it off course and potentially rendering it harmless to life on Earth.

Hm, sounds like with all the time it will take just to get this damn mission ready and then the time it takes for the ship to get there, THIS MISSION CAN'T FAIL!

So, I think we can all rest assured that the civilization that brought us 911, Katrina and all the coolest wars from the last 100 years should be able to handle this asteroid just fine!!

But WAIT, there's MORE:

Experts says that the recent approval of a NASA mandate to upgrade its tracking of near-Earth asteroids is expected to uncover hundreds, if not thousands of threatening space rocks in the near future.

Rusty Schweickart, a former astronaut who orbited the moon in the 1969 Apollo 9 mission, said: "It's not just Apophis we're looking at.

NEAT!

We're doomed!