Earth-crossing asteroid intercept mission with a solar sail spacecraft

A falling meteor that blazed and exploded over the Russian Ural Mountains on February 15, 2013, has been attracting attention from all over the world. It was estimated by the Russian Academy of Science and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that the meteor entered Earth´s atmosphere at a speed of approximately 33-40 km/s. The energy released by the meteor is on the level of hundreds of kilotons of TNT. The threat posed by such falling meteors and Earth-crossing asteroids (ECAs) cannot be excluded as one of the most unpredictable risks to Earth and humans.