Article: "Asteroid May Hit Mars in Next Month"

Our firm, SpaceWorks Engineering, Inc. (SEI) has been reviewing this object and may have some additional analysis on this object.

From the article...

A newly discovered hunk of space rock has a 1 in 75 chance of slamming into the Red Planet on Jan. 30, scientists said Thursday.

"These odds are extremely unusual. We frequently work with really long odds when we track ... threatening asteroids," said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The asteroid, known as 2007 WD5, was discovered in late November and is similar in size to an object that hit remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing energy equivalent to a 15-megaton nuclear bomb and wiping out 60 million trees.

Scientists tracking the asteroid, currently halfway between Earth and Mars, initially put the odds of impact at 1 in 350 but increased the chances this week. Scientists expect the odds to diminish again early next month after getting new observations of the asteroid's orbit, Chesley said.

"Asteroid May Hit Mars in Next Month"
Alicia Chang
Associated Press
20 December 2007

Link: Article

Another article from the LA Times has more information:

The asteroid is now behind the moon, he said, so it will be almost two weeks before observers can plot its course more accurately.

"Normally, we're rooting against the asteroid," when it has Earth in its cross hairs, Chesley said. "This time we're rooting for the asteroid to hit."

"Asteroid on track for possible Mars hit"
John Johnson Jr.
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
21 December 2007

Link: LA Times article

Link: JPL Orbit Diagram of 2007 WD5