Russia gearing up to avert asteroid Earth collision

Discovered in 2004, the Apophis asteroid is approximately the size of two-and-a-half football fields.

The astronomers in 2004 had predicated its collision with Earth in 2009. But NASA has recalculated the path of Apophis. The redefined path indicates that it could hit the Earth in 2036.

Further, they have dropped the possibility of an encounter from one in 45,000 to four-in-a million.

Russia’s plans to deal with Apophis
Having more than 20 years of warning about the potential impact might seem plenty of times, but Russians do not intend to sit idle. In fact, the country has already started making plans before it’s too late to thwart the menace.

Discussing their plan to avert the impending doom, Anatoly Perminov, head of Russian space agency, told Voice of Russia radio said that they are working on a project to prevent the Apophis from colliding with Earth’s surface.

The project could include the deployment of a spacecraft that will divert the path of the asteroid, without destroying it.

Perminov added that no nuclear explosives will be used to break the path of Apophis. In fact, the project would be accomplished “on the basis of laws of physics”.

Also, experts from all over the country could be invited to join the project to avert the impending disaster.

Threats from the outer space in the past
The Earth has always been subject to threats from comets and asteroids, and these cosmic collisions have played a major role in the mass extinctions.

The last worst impact was 65 million years ago that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The asteroid that collided with the Earth at that time was about six miles across and it travelled at a speed of somewhere between twelve and forty-two miles per second. It hit the east coast of Mexico.

In 1908, a meteor explosion occurred near the Tunguska River in Russia

There have also been instances when these cosmic bodies have just missed striking the Earth.

In 1890 a comet was seen passing by our planet at a distance of fifty thousand miles. In 1992, a comet missed striking Earth by only twelve thousand miles.

A warning of a possible disaster to Earth came in 1994 when twenty-one pieces of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter. If these pieces would have hit Earth, all life on our planet would have come to an end.

Recently in November, an undiscovered asteroid was noticed passing the Earth at some 250, 000 miles.