Asteroid Avoidance By Gravitational Field Creation? Cool!

One advantage of getting my news online at breakfast is that I run across things to blog about and I can just do it at the moment rather than making a note to do so later.

This morning's story about a tiny asteroid dubbed Apophis, which could come relatively close to earth and has a 1:45,000 chance of colliding with us in 2036 is fascinating. There are several ideas for how to prevent the collision. The most intriguing one is that of flying a large space drone just ahead of the asteroid, using that drone's gravitational field to lure the asteroid into a new, non-threatening orbit.

Cool stuff.

But what if there's another intelligent race out there smack in the path of the diverted asteroid? Are we then guilty of murder? Genocide? Stupidity? Thoughtlessness?

The stuff of hard s-f.