Rome: Italy, December 30, 2007 - P. Pagella from Rome interviews Dr. Raj Baldev, noted Cosmo Theorist from India, seeking comments on the object which is between the Earth and Mars as discovered by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab., to know whether it can Hit the Earth or Mars and if so what shall be its impact?

Dr. Raj Baldev:” I have seen the report that a small sized asteroid is plowing into Mars next month. No matter whether the object is as small as football, its impact does count; it can easily produce a cosmic smash, and can be measured easily.

“ In this connection, I would refer to Don Yeomans, who is the head of the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who says:

"I think it'll be cool," said Don Yeomans, who heads the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Usually when an asteroid is headed toward Earth, I'm not rooting for an impact."

“However, I am not in agreement with Don Yeomans” Dr. Raj Baldev said.

P. Pagella: Dr.Raj Baldev, what’s this asteroid?

Dr. Raj Baldev: “It is a space rock, small, medium or large, they all belong to space rock family. This is known as the nondescript 2007 WD5. It was discovered in late November by the NASA’s Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona.

Its first information released was that  there was a 1-in-75 chance of the asteroid to hit Mars on January 30, 2008.

“But the chances are calculated to be increased from 1-in-25 last week after a Ph.D. student pored through the archives and plotted the asteroid's motions before its official discovery as reported by Alicia Chang.”

 “The new information made the scientists to improve their calculations of the asteroid's orbit and flight path.”

P.Pagela: “ Whether this object has any danger to the Earth?”

Dr. Raj Baldev: “ No, there is no danger to the Earth from this object."
P.Pagela: “You have said, it has some possibilities to hit Mars, if so, how much damage it could possibly cause to the Red Planet?

Dr. Raj Baldev: “This asteroid is about half-way between the Earth and Mars and it is closing in the distance at the speed of around 27900 miles per hour, or 44900 kilometers per hour.

“ If this hits the red planet, it is likely to cause a blast of about half-mile-wide crater north of where the rover Opportunity has been exploring since 2004. Whatever impact it creates, it shall release some substantial energy, could be compared to the energy as released in 1908 by Tunguska object, which had exploded over remote central Siberia and wiped out 60 million trees.

“About 65,000,000 years ago, such object occurred, it was known as Chicxulub impact, which was a 200 times bigger size of WD5’s, and when it occurred on the Earth, it is believed that it extinguished the entire life as it was then known by dinosaurs.”

“We are fortunate that the asteroid is smaller than the Chicxulub impact, and it shall naturally be reasonably in ratio of the one that hit the Earth 65,000,000 years ago,” Dr. Raj Baldev said.