MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. The Astronomy Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Kometa Corporation have developed a cutting edge project that envisages creation of a space observatory capable to spot asteroids more than 50 meters in size at a distance equal to one astronomical unit - the measurement used for the Earth-sun distance, and other space objects of a decameter size, similar to the Chelyabinsk meteorite, in the near Earth orbits, Director of the Astronomy Institute Boris Shustov told TASS on Monday.

"We have been advocating the project as the Russian one, but which might be integrated into world systems of mass detection and monitoring of hazardous space objects. We expect Roscosmos (the Russian Federal Space Agency) and the Council for studies of space to give their support to the project of creation of a Russian system for prevention of space threats," Shustov said.

He expressed hope that in the near future the parliament's upper house committees on science and defense would resume discussions of a problem of planetary defense, which were started in March in the framework of a round table organized by the upper house.