Russian Asteroid Mission Needs Better Data

Space head: Russia may send spacecraft to asteroid
“Without mentioning NASA findings, Perminov said that he heard from a scientist that Apophis is getting closer and may hit the planet. “I don’t remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032,” Perminov said.”
99942 Apophis, Wikipedia
“On Friday, April 13, 2029, Apophis will pass Earth within the orbits of geosynchronous communication satellites. It will return for another close Earth approach in 2036.”
NASA Refines Asteroid Apophis’ Path Toward Earth
“Updated computational techniques and newly available data indicate the probability of an Earth encounter on April 13, 2036, for Apophis has dropped from one-in-45,000 to about four-in-a million.”
Keith’s note: I certainly hope that Perminov gets some slightly better data before his people start to plan mission trajectories – a good place to start is to get the right year.