London - A "deep impact" task force has been appointed by the British government to assess the risk of asteroids or comets smashing into the Earth.
The three-man team will investigate the hazard posed by large objects in space and report to the British National Space Centre, the UK space agency.
The task force is chaired by Dr Harry Atkinson, formerly of the Science and Engineering Research Council and past chairman of the European Space Agency's council. Working with him are Prof David Williams, president of the Royal Astronomical Society, and a leading environmental expert, Sir Crispin Tickell.
