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Russia: We'll Save Earth From Asteroid

Space agency confirms secret talks are in works

By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 30, 2009 1:06 PM CST
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(Newser) – A 1,150-foot asteroid on a collision course with Earth could create a France-sized desert in 2036—unless Russian scientists can avert the catastrophe. No, it’s not the plot of a science-fiction movie; the head of Russia’s space agency confirms secret talks are in the works to prevent just such a tragedy, AFP reports. NASA, however, stated back in October the likelihood of a collision had dropped from one-in-45,000 to four-in-a-million.

Still, “we are talking about people's lives,” Russia’s Anatoly Perminov says. “Better to spend a few hundred million dollars to create a system for preventing a collision than to wait until it happens and hundreds of thousands of people are killed.”

An image mosaic of the asteroid Eros, with sunlight coming from the northeast, taken by the robotic NEAR Shoemaker space probe March 3, 2000.
An image mosaic of the asteroid Eros, with sunlight coming from the northeast, taken by the robotic NEAR Shoemaker space probe March 3, 2000.   (Getty Images)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 37 comments
passinthru
Jan 2, 2010 8:22 AM CST
pretty fucked up that one of her songs was in my head when i came back to the computer to read this comment.
passinthru
Jan 2, 2010 8:13 AM CST
Tim...russians are immune to vodka...its their water.
passinthru
Jan 2, 2010 8:13 AM CST
yeah...they can name it the Stalingrad asteroid.

 
Russia • NASA • space • Earth • asteroid • Russian Space Agency

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