Experts work to deflect asteroid that could hit Earth in 2036

A blue-ribbon panel of scientists is trying to determine the best way to detect and ward off any wandering space rocks that might be on a collision course with Earth.

“We’re looking for the killer asteroid,” James Heasley of the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy told the committee that the National Academy of Sciences.

Congress asked the academy to conduct the study after astronomers were unable to eliminate an extremely slight chance that an asteroid called Apophis will slam into Earth with devastating effect in 2036.