A Possible Asteroid Impact In 2036?

Shall we need the knowledge from the movies such as Deep Impact or Armageddon to save our planet from a possible impact of asteroid Apophis that might hit Earth in 2036?

Russians scientists are afraid so. Led by a common saying, “Better safe than sorry”, Russia’s space agency is about to hold a meeting in order to find the best way to knock the asteroid off its path.

Anatoly Perminov, the head of Russia’s space agency says that NASA and other space agencies will be called in to join the mission once the project is thoroughly detailed and ready to use.

NASA, when heard of the fright and anguish among the Russians, told that the story of the impact is nothing but nonsense. The news took them by surprise. The US space agency claims that the infamous, 885ft asteroid will pass us by, “coming no nearer than 18,000 miles away.”

The asteroid was discovered in June, 2004. Later that year it caused a great concern; observations and researches showed that the rock could hit Earth in 2029.

“The U.S space agency, who down-scaled the threat of the asteroid hitting Earth in 2029 from one in 37 to virtually nonexistent”, was stated by NASA.

When the possibility of Apophis hitting Earth in 2029 was discarded, a date for new impact was born - 13 April 2036. But as of October this year, that possibility is 1 in 250,000. Still, the Russians claim that the asteroid is a menace that should be treated.

“People's lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and build a system that would allow to prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people”, said Perminov.

Ever since it was first discovered, scientists have theorized about changing its trajectory. That is just one way of dealing with a possible danger; the others include a collision of a spacecraft with the asteroid and the use of nuclear weapons.