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[i]The mission, called Don Quijote, will involve sending two spacecraft towards a near-Earth asteroid. One will be an 'impactor', which is fired into the asteroid, the other an orbitor that will analyse data from the experiment. One potential target is a 1600ft-wide asteroid called 99942 Apophis, which experts say does have a minute chance - around one in 250,000 - of hitting Earth in 2036, so it would be useful target practice. The 500kg impact craft, which will be called Hidalgo, will ram into the asteroid at a speed of around six miles a second. The orbitor, called Sancho, will scan the collision and monitor whether the asteroid changes direction at all.[/i]
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