MOSCOW. March 12 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Defense Ministry does not have technical means to observe space objects and does not plan to build such, but it is ready to deter threats from the outer space together with Roscosmos and the Emergency Situations Ministry, head of the Aerospace Defense Research Center at the Russian Defense Ministry 4th Central Research Institute Oleg Aksyonov said at a Federation Council roundtable dedicated to asteroid defense.
"The Defense Ministry does not have instruments to trace asteroids and comets and does not plan to build or acquire such," he said.
The Defense Ministry was asked lots of questions after the Chelyabinsk meteorite event: why space control and even missile defense systems did not work, he said.
"Domestic and U.S. missile defense systems are capable of detection and tracking of man-made objects on the range of about 50,000 kilometers in the circumterrestrial space. Tracking specifics derive from technical characteristics of the observation systems. Asteroids and comets are objects of another type, which require different observation instruments - astronomical tools and tracking methods," Aksyonov said.
Nevertheless, the Defense Ministry is ready to deter threats from the outer space together with Roscosmos, the Academy of Sciences and the Emergency Situations Ministry and to evaluate aftereffects of asteroid falls. The ministry is highly experienced in the evaluation of damages incurred by military and state infrastructure, the expert added.