Russia 'plans to stop asteroid' (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

The head of Russia's federal space agency has said it will work to divert an asteroid which will make several passes near the Earth from 2029.

Anatoly Perminov told the Voice of Russia radio service that the agency's science council would hold a closed meeting to discuss the issue.

Any eventual plan is likely to be an international collaboration, he said.

The US space agency said in October that there is a one-in-250,000 chance of Apophis hitting Earth in 2036.

That announcement was a significant reduction in the probability of an impact, based on previous calculations that put the chances at about one-in-45,000. The asteroid is estimated to pass within about 30,000 km of the Earth in 2029.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8435829.stm

[aquart]

1. Go to it.

We don't have the money. We gave it to rich people.

[Pholus]

2. Russia has announced many plans like this.

It's cyclic. Never saw a lot come out of it though.

[Lint Head]

3. Russia orbited the earth first with Sputnik. Maybe they will be the first to divert an asteroid.

[whyverne]

4. They are going to divert the asteroid to hit the U.S.!

I read that in a book but I can't remember the title.

[Demstud]

5. I remember a book like that

It was about space marines, discovery of an alien artifacts, and it wasn't Russia, it was the U.N. :-D

[whyverne]

6. Yeah, you're right. It was pretty cool.

Giant mechanized war suits. I gotta think of the name of that book.

[Orsino]

7. In other words, they're PLANNING to plan to stop an asteroid.

And "divert" is undoubtedly the better word.