B612* Foundation Deflected Asteroids May Keep Coming Back

[link to www.b612foundation.org]

The Goal of the B612* Foundation is...
To significantly alter the orbit of an asteroid, in a controlled manner, by 2015.

Asteroid and comet impacts have both destroyed and shaped life on Earth since it formed.
The Earth orbits the Sun in a vast swarm of near Earth asteroids (NEAs).
The probability of an unacceptable collision in this century is ~2%.
We now have the capability to anticipate an impact and to prevent it.
* B612 is the asteroid home of the Little Prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's child's story The Little Prince.


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on an Iranian news paper:
[link to www.iran-daily.com]
Deflected Asteroids May Keep Coming Back

What goes around comes around. Unfortunately, no such karma figures in plans to deflect asteroids on a collision course with Earth, a hearing of the US House Science and Technology Committee was told last week. One big whack will deflect an asteroid temporarily, but does not guarantee safety next time its orbit brings it close.
According to Newscientist.com asteroid researchers have long debated the merits of deflecting asteroids with a powerful blast such as a nuclear explosion. However, Rusty Schweickart, who heads an asteroid research group called the B612 Foundation, told the committee that the effects of powerful blasts are hard to predict, especially if Earth’s gravitational pull acts on the object. An asteroid could pass through one of the “keyholes“ that would nudge it back onto a collision course, so once diverted it might need to be steered past Earth to prevent this.
At the same hearing, members attacked NASA for ignoring smaller asteroids.