Mars Asteroid Hit
By Mar Celo on Dec 20, 2007 in Science News | | |
Mars could be hit by an asteroid it has been recently discovered .
Scientists have revealed that a hunk of space rock has a 1 in 75 chance of slamming into the Red Planet.Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said :
“These odds are extremely unusual. We frequently work with really long odds when we track … threatening asteroids” .
The asteroid known as 2007 WD5, was discovered in November and is the size of the object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing energy equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb and wiping out 60 million trees.Chesley also added:
“We know that it’s going to fly by Mars and most likely going to miss, but there’s a possibility of an impact” .
Nonetheless if the asteroid does smash into Mars, it will probably no hit the robot named Opportunity has been exploring the Martian plains since 2004.
