[meteorite-list] Russia, US Mulling Over Diversion of Asteroid Hazard

[Ron Baalke]

http://rbth.ru/news/2014/01/29/russia_us_mulling_over_diversion_of_asteroid_hazard_33639.html

Russia, U.S. mulling over diversion of asteroid hazard
Russia Beyond The Headlines
January 29, 2014 

Russia and the United States will pool efforts in the creation of asteroid 
diversion techniques.

Russian Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said in a video 
link with the administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency 
(FEMA) it was time to work together to protect the Earth from asteroids 
and meteorites.

"The implementation of our agreements will allow us and the world at large 
to design an efficient mechanism of the protection from the threat asteroids. 
The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry is set to take practical steps 
in this field. We plan to elaborate a concept, which will pool efforts 
for the next generation of new approaches to space threat monitoring, 
information of the civilian population and minimization of the damage," 
the minister.

Contemporary technologies are unable to divert asteroids and meteorites 
from the Earth but Russia has launched related research programs, Puchkov 
said.

His U.S. counterpart, FEMA Administrator William Craig Fugate, confirmed 
the necessity of joint work on the asteroid problem.

In his opinion, joint efforts will provide the opportunity for dealing 
with such threats as this is not a mission either side could accomplish 
on its own. He also said the video link was an important step towards 
the exchange of information and the exchange of opinions on asteroid protection 
techniques.

Fugate described the lessons Russia learned from the meteorite event in 
Chelyabinsk as extremely valuable for the United States.

Puchkov invited Fugate to visit Russia.

"I invite you and your colleagues to come to Russia. We will demonstrate 
our R&D products and show the sites that must be preserved for the future 
generations: picture galleries, museums and other socially significant 
venues," Puchkov said.