Near-Earth object the largest explosion in recorded history, equivalent to 20,000 megatons of TNT. It attracted widespread attention because it was discovered only after the closest approach. In March 1998, early orbit calculations for recently discovered asteroid showed a potential 2028 close approach from the Earth, well within the orbit of the Moon, but with a large error margin allowing for a direct hit. Further data allowed a revision of the 2028 approach distance to , with no chance of collision. By that time, inaccurate reports of a potential impact had caused a media storm. From the late 1990s, a typical frame
Colonization of the Moon design for the Lunar Flying Vehicle as part of a study for NASA, while Bell proposes the Manned Flying System, a similar concept. Experience so far indicates that launching human beings into space is much more expensive than launching cargo. One way to get materials and products from the Moon to an interplanetary way station might be with a mass driver, a magnetically accelerated projectile launcher. Cargo would be picked up from orbit or an Earth-Moon Lagrangian point by a shuttle craft using ion propulsion, solar sails or other means and delivered to Earth orbit or other destinations such as