Mars to get a comet fly-by, and maybe even a collision, next year

[Judi Lynn]

Mars to get a comet fly-by, and maybe even a collision, next year
Friday, March 29, 2013

The last thing our world needs is a collision with a large, fast-moving comet.

But Mars? That might be interesting.

And NASA scientists say a large comet could collide with Mars in October 2014. The chance is not high, it’s about 1 in 2000, scientists estimate.

Still, because the comet is so large even a small chance of a collision is a big deal. Astronomers estimate the comet, 2013 A1, is 1 to 2 miles across and capable of delivering an impact of 35 million megatons of TNT, or about the third of the energy of the asteroid strike 65 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Were such a rock to strike the Earth it would threaten civilization as we know it, whether it hit land or ocean.

More:
http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2013/03/mars-to-get-a-comet-fly-by-and-maybe-even-a-collision-next-year/

[shenmue]

1. Which means I get to post this again...

Sorry about the ad.

[htuttle]

2. Do any of the landers on Mars provide weather data?

That could be very interesting, post-impact.

[dballance]

3. Yes, they do - See Link

Here's a link to the Curiosity page at NASA. In the lower-left there's a link to Weather on Mars. So it appears they are taking atmospheric readings - which we'd pretty much expect.

Weather on mars: http://cab.inta-csic.es/rems/marsweather.html