Am I the only one excited by the 1 in 28 chance that a large meteor will hit Mars this month? I hope not!
This would be wonderful. We have seen only one collison in mankind's history: Hale-Bopp smashing into the gaseous Jupiter. A big rock, not comet, hitting a terrestial planet, not Jovian, would provide unique data to the Mars orbitors that would take years to analyze.
Also, a prophecy made on Art Bell's annual New Years shows (parts I and II) declares that this collision will uncover the vast ruins of a long gone Mars civilization. OK, I know, but it is a lot of fun.
The fear this asteroid should be generating, hit or not, is how easily that could be us sitting, waiting, a 1 in 28 chance of disaster. But hey, we just can't afford to do anything, slashing NASA budgets again. We've got a war to spend more than 1.6 Trillion dollars on!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,320410,00.html