Russian scientists claim asteroid, named Apophis, is not dangerous for the Earth; however, it’s a perfect target for testing methods for preventing collisions with cosmic bodies.
      
      Recently NASA’s subcommittee on space and aeronautics approved NASA’s 2009 budget, where it requested to consider possible threat from mentioned asteroid. In 2029 the Apophis asteroid is expected to be only 36 thousand km away from the Earth.
      
      In case of Apophis’s collision with our planet, the explosion will be 100 thousand times more powerful than Hiroshima’s nuclear attack.
      
      Russian scientists say that NASA officials use innocent cosmic body as another way of getting money of taxpayers. Solar system has numerous cosmic bodies, flying around. Experts name a minimum of 10 million asteroids, piercing the space around the Sun and its planets. Several years ago a couple of asteroids were much closer to Earth than Apophis, but no one ever regarded them as a threat.
      
      Source: RIA Novosti