Earth May Be Destroyed After All - Our Bad

NASA is no stranger to having math errors equal the destruction of their multi-million dollar space endeavors. In 1999, the space agency hung its head in shame when a failure to properly convert units resulted in the Mars Climate Orbiter smashing into the planet. The agency’s math has been trumped once again, only this time by a German thirteen year old. Earlier, NASA had calculated the impact probability of the Apophis asteroid as roughly 1 chance in 45,000. Nico Marquardt recalculated those odds for his regional science competition, by factoring in the changes to the asteroid’s orbit after it impacts with other interstellar debris, as having a 1 in 450 chance of destroying life on Earth. Enjoy the beautiful heavens above … they may kill you one day.