US Team Wins Asteroid Competition

A US team based in Georgia has won a $50,000 international 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 99942 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.

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