MOSCOW. March 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Planetary Defense Center General Director Anatoly Zaitsev presented the Citadel planetary defense system at the Federation Council roundtable on Tuesday.
"The system should have two echelons for short-term and long-term response. The short-term echelon needs at least one observation unit for guaranteed detection of dangerous space objects," Zaitsev said.
Once a dangerous space object, either a comet or an asteroid, is detected, a scout will be sent followed by an interceptor vehicle with kinetic or nuclear weapons aboard. It is planned to use Zenit Russian-Ukrainian rockets in launches.
"This echelon can protect the Earth from space objects of up to several hundreds of meters in diameter, or 99.5% of the total number of asteroids approaching the Earth," he said.
Zaitsev also proposed the establishment of auxiliary services, such as the service to forecast areas of asteroid events and evaluate their consequences and the regional defense service utilizing prospective aerospace defense systems. He said the regional defense service should comprise two operative echelons deployed in both hemispheres.
The short-term response echelon may be created within five years, Zaitsev said. The project will cost several billions of dollars, and Russian expenditures may be minimized with foreign investments.
The long-term response echelon will protect the Earth from large asteroids and comet nuclei. It will need super-power reentry launch vehicles and nuclear units similar with the one the Keldysh Center is designing.
"That will require bigger investments and more time but stimulate the development of new technologies," Zaitsev said.
Alas, new armaments may be designed under the disguise of planetary defense, the expert said. International legal norms will have to be developed to regulate such issues, he added.