Asteroid could impact Earth in 2036

Not going to lose any sleep over this one. Another one of them silly scare stories, like Sars, Global Warming etc etc.

The asteroid Apophis is a 300-metre wide lump of rock and ice that looks to be on course to hit our planet in 2036.

Space interest group The Planetary Society says precise tracking is needed to gauge the possibility of such a catastrophic collision - and it has challenged scientists to find a way to tag Apophis.

They have until the end of Friday to hand in their propositions to rendezvous with the asteroid and plant a tracking device.

One of the entries is from engineers in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, who have said they would send a satellite to orbit round Apophis in 2014, collecting data to send back to Earth.

The Planetary Society's Chairman of the Board, Dan Geraci, said: "The time scale may be unknown, but the danger of a near-Earth object impact is very real.

"We need to spur the space community and indeed all people into thinking about technical solutions."

A reward of $50,00 (£24,766) is being offered to the team offering the best mission proposal.

Despite the dire warnings of the consequences of an asteroid collision, Dr Benny Peiser, member of astronomical researchers Spaceguard UK, says we should not be losing sleep over the threat.

"There is no significant risk Apophis will hit Earth," he told Sky News Online.

"Having said that, I am in favour of sending a transponder - a device that would land on the asteroid and track its movement more accurately than our observations.

"At some point in the future we will need this technology."

The Planetary Society has said that all entries will be shared with space agencies directly, as a "creative and useful starting point" for any future missions to tag potentially threatening asteroids.

.