[quote]If a meteorite was about to hit the earth... [/quote] It's a trick question, as the Earth has already been struck in this scenario. A "meteorite" is a solid piece of debris from outer space that survives impact with whatever planet it hits. A "meteoroid" is a solid piece of debris from outer space that has not yet impacted with Earth. Given this information, we can assume from the problem statement that, since the object is a meteorite, the Earth has already been struck by it and the event was so minor that most people don't know it happened. One could presume the "collision" that is to occur in two weeks time is simply the lifting and dropping of the object by human intervention. Given that the object is undoubtedly less massive than it was before it fell through the atmosphere the first time, even if it was lifted all the way back into space it is unlikely that it would cause significant damage via the second impact. It would seem the question is really about whether or not you would attempt to incite panic by taking advantage of the general public's lack of knowledge regarding astronomical terms. Given the answers in this thread, the odds of success should one pursue this option seem high.