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Projects: Apophis Mission Design Competition

Apophis Mission Design Competition Rules Change

April 30, 2007

Because of confusion expressed by various groups over one section of wording in the original competition rules, the rules will be changed as follows.  We apologize for any inconvenience this change may cause, but feel the competition will be clearer now.

Within the section titled "Competition Design Scenario," the original rules read:

  • Assume for this competition that your mission must be able to determine whether Apophis will hit the keyhole at greater than 10 percent confidence, the assumption being that such a level of confidence would be sufficient to prompt governments to launch a deflection mission.

This rule has been changed to:

  • Assume for this competition that the Apophis tracking accuracy must be adequate to reduce the long dimension of the ±3σ error ellipse to 14 kilometers by 2017, the assumption being that such a level of confidence would be sufficient to prompt governments to launch a deflection mission.  For reference, this translates approximately to a 10% impact probability if the keyhole is right in the middle of the 14-kilometer error ellipse.

We continue to reserve the right to change or add additional rules as needed.  Though an attempt will be made to contact all who submitted Notices of Intent about any rules changes, you should check the web site periodically to make sure you are aware of any changes: http://planetary.org/apophis