There’s a massive asteroid out there in space and it might hit Earth. Good news is, US scientists say chances of that asteroid hitting the Earth is unlikely.

This 270-meter (885-foot) asteroid was discovered in 2004. Astronomers then made an estimate that its chances of hitting the Earth in its first flyby in 2029, as 1-in-37. But Russia is not taking any chances.

The Russia space agency is planning to dispatch a spacecraft to reduce the chances of it hitting our planet. Chief Anatoly Perminov told Golos Rossii radio that his agency is holding a meeting soon to discuss a mission to Apophis. He also said that the Russia space agency might invite NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese space agency and others to participate.

“People’s lives are at stake. We should pay several hundred million dollars and build a system that would allow us to prevent a collision, rather than sit and wait for it to happen and kill hundreds of thousands of people,” Perminov said.

Head of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program, Don Yeomans, said, “While Apophis is almost certainly not a problem, I am encouraged that the Russian science community is willing to study the various deflection options that would be available in the event of a future Earth threatening encounter by an asteroid.”

(via Yahoo News)