Orbit 17 +++ Space and beyond
galaxies, science, exploration, astronomy (blog)
Russia plans space project to prevent asteroid collision — now that’s a serious diversion
Russia is considering a project to launch a spaceship to try to divert a large asteroid from hitting Earth after 2030, the head of the country’s space program said today.
Anatoly Perminov, head of Roscosmos, tells Voice of Russia radio that Moscow may invite experts from Europe, the United States and China to join the project aimed at thwarting the menacing asteroid Apophis.
“People’s lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and design a system that would prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people,” Perminov says, according to RIA Novosti news agency.
He says it is his understanding that the 850-foot asteroid “will surely collide with the Earth in the 2030s.”