EADS Astrium to the Rescue!

British Engineers Develop Spacecraft To Protect Against Asteroids.

The London Telegraph (8/30, Gray) reported that "a team of British engineers have designed a real-life spacecraft to save the world from destruction." The "gravity tractor" would be launched when an asteroid is headed towards Earth. The spacecraft would fly next to the asteroid, generating a smallgravitational pull over several years that would deflect the asteroid. NASA "estimates are more than 100,000 asteroids orbiting near the Earth that are large enough to destroy a city." As a result, "EADS Astrium, which designs and builds spacecraft for Nasa and the European Space Agency," designed the gravity tractor, which "could be built in a relatively short time, using existing technologies."