Asteroid-tracking proposal wins $25,000 prize

February 27, 2008 | Source: NewScientist news service

The Planetary Society has announced the $25,000 prize winner of a competition to design a mission to track asteroid Apophis and determine whether it poses a threat to Earth.

The SpaceWorks’ “Foresight” mission would put a small spacecraft in orbit around Apophis, where it would send pictures and data about the asteroid back to Earth to determine its position relative to Earth more accurately. That would help determine whether there is a significant chance of a 2036 impact without intervention.