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["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj AT intrex.net>]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7265608.stm   Last Updated: 
Tuesday, 26 February 2008, 18:13 GMT
US team wins asteroid competition By Paul Rincon  Science reporter, BBC News
The mission aims to tag the asteroid 99942 Apophis
A US team has won a $50,000 (£25,000) competition to design a spacecraft to rendezvous with and track the path of an 
asteroid which may threaten Earth. The winning entry, led by SpaceWorks Engineering, will shadow asteroid Apophis for 
300 days. The measurements it takes will be used to refine what is known about the orbit of this 300m-wide space rock.
Apophis will make a close pass of Earth in 2029 and there is a small but real 
possibility it could hit in 2036.
Apophis isn't science fiction, it isn't a blockbuster Hollywood movie, it is 
very real
Dan Geraci, The Planetary Society. The competition was organised by the Planetary Society, a space advocacy group with 
its headquarters in Pasadena, California. The idea behind the project was to "tag" Apophis and thereby plot its orbit 
accurately enough to determine whether it will strike our planet.