It looks like 2007 WD5 is going to miss Mars now. The miss is estimated to be between 2,480 miles and 16,000 miles. So on January 30th, the Martian rover Opportunity wont be in danger of being caught in the impact area. Bad news is, NASA wont get a chance to have a rover literally ringside when a meteor slams into Mars.
I admit the chance to learn about a meteor impact on mars would be invaluable from a scientific standpoint, but Mars is way too close for my comfort. Especially when this one could have knocked a half-mile wide crater into Mars.
NASA and others think they have most Near Earth Objects mapped by now, but still they only think they do. Perhaps its time to ramp up getting a self-sufficient base set up on the Moon, just in case the Earth gets potted again in a game of solar billiards.
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