[meteorite-list] Canadian Satellite to Detect Earth Hits

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 12:59:07 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200805051959.MAA29792_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Canadian_satellite_to_detect_Earth_hits_999.html

Canadian satellite to detect Earth hits
United Press International
May 2, 2008

Canadian researchers are working on a tiny satellite that will alert the
world to the potential of asteroid strikes.

"This is the first space-based asteroid-searching telescope," said Alan
Hildebrand of the University of Calgary (Alberta), one of two principal
scientists for the satellite.

He told the Canwest News Service the Near Earth Object Surveillance
Satellite, set to be launched within two years is "the first space-based
asteroid-searching telescope."

Once completed, the NEOSSat device will weigh only 135 pounds, and will be
the size of a small suitcase, the report said.

"I think the most exciting thing about this mission is we are going to find
asteroids that are accessible from our planet," Hildebrand said.

He said the mini-satellite would also help define celestial origins.

"We've been to the moon. There's always more you can do (there), but
asteroids have so much more to teach us about the origins of the solar
system," Hildebrand told the news agency.
Received on Mon 05 May 2008 03:59:07 PM PDT