US team wins asteroid competition

[Rick]

A US team has won a $50,000 (£25,000) competition to design a spacecraft to rendezvous with and track the path of an asteroid which may threaten Earth.

The winning entry, led by SpaceWorks Engineering, will shadow asteroid Apophis for 300 days.

The measurements it takes will be used to refine what is known about the orbit of this 300m-wide space rock.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7265608.stm