[meteorite-list] Europe Sets Next Phase In Asteroid Deflection Project

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Europe_Sets_Next_Phase_In_Asteroid_Deflection_Project.html

Europe Sets Next Phase In Asteroid Deflection Project
AFP
April 5, 2006

Paris (AFP) - The European Space Agency (ESA) said it had shortlisted 
three European consortia to submit proposals for its Don Quijote project, 
which seeks to deflect any future asteroid on a collision course with 
Earth.

The teams are respectively led by Alcatel Alenia Space, Qinetiq of
Britain and EADS Astrium, each of which has long experience in European
space projects, ESA said in a press release on Monday.

ESA, helped by an independent panel of experts, will assess their
submissions in October, and the outcome will be made public in 2007.

The Don Quijote mission will comprise two spacecraft.

One of them, called Hidalgo, will smash into the asteroid at relatively
high speed, while a second one, Sancho, will arrive earlier at the same
asteroid to measure the variation on the asteroid's orbital parameters
after the impact.

The risk of an asteroid collision with Earth is extremely remote.

But if such an event were to occur, and the rock were big, the immediate
devastation could be continent-wide and there could be lasting changes
to the planet's weather system.

The long reign of the dinosaurs is believed to have come to an abrupt
end 65 million years ago when an asteroid or comet smashed into
modern-day Mexico.

The collision kicked up so much dust that heat and light from the Sun
were diminished, destroying much of Earth's vegetation and the larger
species of land animals that depended on it.

Deflection is considered a safer bet than blowing up a dangerous
asteroid with nuclear bombs. An explosion would break the asteroid into
chunks, with the risk these pieces could hit Earth in turn.

Source: Agence France-Presse