No Mars Impact

Scientists announced today that asteroid WD5 2007 will not hit Mars on January 30. The odds dropped rather dramatically, from a 1 in 40 chance just yesterday to a 1 in 10,000 chance today. It is expected to pass just 2,000 miles from Mars.

While I am very disappointed, it definitely was a good exercise for scientists. It was just 100 years ago this June that a celestial object exploded over the Tunguska region of Siberia. With events of that nature happening roughly every hundred years or so, we are statistically due for another hit this year. While that is highly unlikely, our ability to track and predict the course of asteroids and comets is crucial. Someday it will happen again, and we don't want to get caught off guard.

If the Tunguska "object" (the same size as WD5, 160 feet across) had hit just a few hours earlier, it would have decimated Moscow. Not good PR for any space program.

Of course, if it's going to happen to Mars, we welcome it with open arms!