>Even if we had a probe ready when we first detected the object it would have been difficult to intercept with today's technology. That's the other side of the

>Even if we had a probe ready when we first detected the object it would have been difficult to intercept with today's technology. That's the other side of the problem: we didn't detect it until far too late. We should be able to detect objects of this size much, much sooner than we currently do. We're not looking very hard for them, so usually we end up seeing them after they've already whizzed by. There have been way too many times in the last decade or so when we're informed, "hey, we just barely got missed by some big asteroid, and we didn't even see it until it already went by the Earth!" That's just pathetic.