[meteorite-list] Apollo Astronaut Rusty Schweickart to Speak on Asteroid Impact Threat

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 12:18:16 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200801092018.MAA04644_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

From:

Bruce Cordell, Ph.D.
Dean, Natural Sciences
Fullerton College
(714) 992-7106
bcordell at fullcoll.edu

APOLLO ASTRONAUT RUSTY SCHWEICKART TO SPEAK ON ASTEROID IMPACT THREAT

In early February, 2008, the Apollo 9 Astronaut will present a public
talk, "Asteroid Impact - Protecting the Earth" at Fullerton College.

The Schweickart event - open to the public and free of charge - will
occur on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 in the Wilshire Auditorium at 7 pm at
Fullerton College [in Fullerton, Calfornia]. Wilshire Auditorium is
located at 330 N. Lemon St. at the southeast corner of Lemon St. and
Chapman Ave.

As part of NASA's preparations for the first manned Moon landing,
Schweickart was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 9 and performed the
first orbital tests of the vehicle that would later take humans down to
the lunar surface. During his 46 minute space walk in Earth orbit,
Schweickart also tested the portable life support system that was used
by astronauts on the Moon.

Rusty Schweickart serves today as Chairman of the Board (and co-founder)
of the B612 Foundation, a non-profit private group that seeks to protect
the Earth from future asteroid impacts.

The major concern is an estimated 300+ near-Earth asteroids over 1 km in
diameter and another 100,000 smaller bodies (above 100 meters) whose
orbits are currently unknown, but which could pose a threat to Earth.
For example, a 1 km asteroid hitting Earth would explode with the energy
of 70,000 megatons (MT) of TNT; this dwarfs the largest H-bomb ever
exploded by humans (50 MT), and would threaten life on Earth. A 100
meter body that actually impacted in 1908 in Siberia released 12 MT of
energy.

The B612 Foundation is the first organization to seriously address this
threat. Rather than using nuclear bombs to fragment the asteroid, they
propose an "Asteroid Tugboat"; i.e., attaching a low-thrust rocket to
the incoming asteroid and gently nudging it away from Earth.

Schweickart's distinguished post-astronaut career includes serving for
two years as the Governor of California's assistant for science and
technology. He was also appointed as Commissioner of Energy for the
State of California and served on the Commission for five and a half
years. In 1998, Schweickart retired from ALOHA Networks, Inc. where he
served as President and CEO. ALOHA was a data communications company
specializing in high performance, wireless internet access equipment.

Rusty Schweickart is presented by the Fullerton College Foundation, Inc.
and the Center for the Future at Fullerton College.

More information about this event and other public space events this
Spring, 2008 is at:
http://fcfutures.fullcoll.edu/futures.events.s.08.htm
Received on Wed 09 Jan 2008 03:18:16 PM PST