Roscosmos, EC to Discuss Efforts Against Asteroids

Asteroid Ida

Russia, Europe may join forces to protect Earth from asteroids
RIA Novosti

Russian space officials and members of the European Commission will meet in early July to discuss joining forces against thousands of potentially hazardous asteroids, the head of the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said.

Despite the growing concern about the asteroid threat, no anti-asteroid defense programs have been developed in practice so far, with only several theoretical concepts being studied. At a meeting in Moscow on July 7, the European Commission will consider Roscosmos’s proposal to start a joint anti-asteroid project with the European Union.

“I received a letter, in which the European Commission proposes to meet on July 7 in Roscosmos with scientists and engineers of the Federal Space Agency, the Russian Academy of Sciences and other institutions and organizations. At the meeting, the Russian bid to start a joint project with the EU will be considered,” Anatoly Perminov said.

However, only 1,185 of all NEAs detected have been labeled “potentially hazardous,” all of them asteroids — and 146 of them more than one kilometer in diameter. The Roscomos TV said on its website that calculations, based on results of nuclear weapon tests, show that an asteroid of 1-2 km in diameter is enough to cause a catastrophic shift in the global climate.

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