Russia in race against time to save the earth from killer asteroid (From The Northern Echo)

Scientists call for help to divert global killer

4:45pm Wednesday 30th December 2009 in News By Nigel Burton

Could this happen in 2036?

RUSSIA has confirmed that it has given the go-ahead for a plan to save the earth from a potentially catastrophic collision with a huge asteroid hurtling towards the planet.

Scientists have appealed for help from other countries in the race to devise a way to deflect the Apophis asteroid from its collision course.

If the asteroid does impact the resulting firestorm would create a new desert roughly the size of France resulting in unimaginable loss of life and catastrophic climate change.

If the asteroid does impact the resulting firestorm would create a new desert roughly the size of France resulting in unimaginable loss of life and catastrophic climate change.

If the asteroid does impact the resulting firestorm would create a new desert roughly the size of France resulting in unimaginable loss of life and catastrophic climate change.

NASA has calculated that the effect of the asteroid hitting the planet would be the equivalent of 65,000 nuclear explosions - at the same second.

If the asteroid does impact the resulting firestorm would create a new desert roughly the size of France resulting in unimaginable loss of life and catastrophic climate change.

Some scientists are already speculating that the asteroid should be classed as a potential "global killer" - a rock big enough to pose a possible extinction threat to mankind.

Russian experts say the asteroid may collide with the planet in 2036 - and say only an international effort will deflect the rock (which is more than 1,100 feet wide) in time.

Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Russian space agency, said: "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."

If the asteroid does impact the resulting firestorm would create a new desert roughly the size of France resulting in unimaginable loss of life and catastrophic climate change.

However, NASA has poured cold water on the appeal.

It's experts believe the asteroid will narrowly miss the earth - by around 18,000 miles.