[meteorite-list] NASA Should Lead More Focused Program to Reduce Threat from Hazardous Asteroids

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:18:24 2004
Message-ID: <200302042137.NAA18736_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.noao.edu/outreach/press/pr03/pr0303.html

National Optical Astronomy Observatory

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 4, 2003
RELEASE NO: NOAO 03-03

NASA Should Lead More Focused Program to Reduce Threat from Hazardous
Asteroids

For More Information:

Douglas Isbell
Public Information Officer
National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Phone: 520/318-8214
E-mail: disbell_at_noao.edu

NASA should be assigned to lead a new research program to better determine
the population and physical diversity of near-Earth objects that may collide
with our planet, down to a size of 200 meters, according to the final report
of a workshop on the scientific requirements for the mitigation of hazardous
comets and asteroids.

The workshop's report also recommends that the U.S. Department of Defense
(DoD) work to more rapidly communicate surveillance data on natural
airbursts of smaller rocky bodies, and it concludes that governmental policy
makers must "formulate a chain of responsibility" to be better prepared in
the event that a threat to Earth becomes known.

"As our discussions proceeded, it became clear that the prime impediment to
further advances in this field is the lack of assigned responsibility to any
national or international governmental organization," said planetary
scientist Michael Belton, organizer of the September 2002 workshop. "Since
it is part of NASA's newly stated mission to `understand and protect our
home planet,' it seems obvious that this responsibility should reside in
NASA."

Belton presented the findings of the workshop today in Washington, DC, to
officials at NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of
Management and Budget, and the report was delivered to the U.S. Congress.

About 2,225 near-Earth objects (NEOs) have been detected, primarily by
ground-based optical searches, in the size range between 10 meters and 30
kilometers, out of a total estimated population of about one million; some
information about the physical size and composition of these NEOs is
available for only 300 objects.

The total number of objects a kilometer in diameter or larger, a size that
could cause global catastrophe upon Earth impact, is now estimated to range
between 900 and 1,230. The NASA-led Spaceguard Survey has a congressional
mandate to detect 90% of these kilometer-sized objects by 2008, and it is
making "excellent progress" on this goal, the report says.

However, a full survey of objects that could cause significant damage on
Earth should reach down to NEOs at least as small as 200 meters, the report
says, which should be within the capability of proposed ground-based
facilities such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and the PanStarrs
telescope system. Ground-based radar systems will remain a "critical
contributor" to obtaining the most accurate possible data on the orbits of
many hazardous objects, the report says.

The workshop report discusses a preliminary roadmap based on five themes:
more complete and accurate surveys of the orbits of potentially hazardous
objects; improved public education about the risk; characterizing the
physical properties of a range of asteroids and comets; more extensive
laboratory research; and initial physical experiments toward a realistic
plan to intercept and divert a future incoming object.

In order to keep maximum annual expenses on the order of a typical
spacecraft mission (approximately $300 million), the report estimates that
it would take about 25 years to accomplish this roadmap.

The Final Report of the NASA Workshop on Scientific Requirements for
Mitigation of Hazardous Comets and Asteroids, held in Arlington, VA, from
September 3-6, 2002, is available on the Internet at:

http://www.noao.edu/meetings/mitigation/report.html

The workshop was attended by 77 scientists from the United States, Europe
and Japan. It was co-sponsored by Ball Aerospace, Science Applications
International Corp., Lockheed Martin Corp., the National Optical Astronomy
Observatory and the University of Maryland.

                                :: :: ::
Received on Tue 04 Feb 2003 04:37:37 PM PST