[meteorite-list] Opik Urges Asteroids Action Plan

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Jan 13 14:06:41 2005
Message-ID: <200501131906.LAA08238_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/4171135.stm

Opik urges asteroids action plan
BBC News
January 13, 2005

A Welsh MP has called on the Government to embrace an action plan to
combat the threat of asteroids.

Lembit Opik's comments follow Nasa's launch of its Deep Impact research
mission to crash a projectile into Comet Tempel 1.

The Montgomeryshire MP welcomed its launch, but said the Near Earth
Object Task Group's 14-step plan had to be implemented without delay.

It includes assessing the impact a large asteroid would have on Earth.

Mr Opik, who tabled a Commons motion, said: "The successful launch of
the Deep Impact space probe marks a milestone in our understanding of
comets and what they're made of.

"But it's also vital information to those seeking ways to protect us
from a catastrophic impact from a large object from space."

Mr Opik, who is leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, has had a
longstanding interest in the subject of asteroids or near earth objects
(NEOs).

He works closely with the Spaceguard Centre, in Knighton, Powys, which
acts as a focus for UK interest in asteroids.

"To put it in perspective, if a comet smashed into an ocean basin, it
could generate a tsunami a 1,000 metres high together with untold
devastation from fire and molten lava," said Mr Opik.

"It could kill hundreds of millions of people, but unless we know what
these things are made of, we won't be able to plan a way to divert them."

The MP added: "The Deep Impact project will push back the frontiers of
our knowledge and give us a much better chance of protecting ourselves
from Armageddon.

"I also hope the Government will now implement the 14 recommendations
from their own Near Earth Object Task Group without delay."

The UK task force on NEOs was set up in 2000 following an upsurge in
interest in potentially hazardous rocks from space that could strike the
Earth.

The task force made 14 recommendations including the use of telescopes,
the analysis of data and studies of NEOs.

But last year scientists said the UK government's interest in NEOs had
cooled, and it had not implemented the recommendations it said it would.

But a spokesman for the British National Space Centre, part of the
Department of Trade's science division, said it had examined the
suggestions.

"The government has set up an NEO Information Centre to provide
information to the government, public and the media on NEO issues," he
said.

He added that they had arrangements with the Cabinet Office's civil
contingencies unit to keep them fully informed on the NEO risk, as well
as working with international agencies.
Received on Thu 13 Jan 2005 02:06:25 PM PST