[meteorite-list] ATTN: Ron Baalke - Impactor Detection Questions, Part 2

From: E.P. Grondine <epgrondine_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2011 21:56:35 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <393576.79106.qm_at_web36908.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hi Ron -

As I did not make it to the Flagstaff meeting nor to the Texas session, and I've read no coverage of either, so here's some stupid questions for the NASA NEO office:

Last I heard, the AF had walked away from PS1 operations, and Weiler was not walking in. What's going on with PanStarrs operation and funding?

Assume that every 26 million years or so the Earth gets pounded by a Long Period Comet. (In other words, Clube and Napier's injection model is correct, and Mueller and Morrison's Nemesis model is wrong.)

What is the best way of getting the earliest warning of an inbound LPC?
Not the cheapest, but the BEST.

Assume that the ELE for humans (in contrast to other species) is about once per 1,000,000 years. How much is it worth to find out what hit, whether comet or asteroid?

Assume that small 30 m cometissimals hit the Earth quite often and cause 5 kt airbursts, and can come from any direction without prior passes. Does a radar or lidar system based on the Moon then make sense for their detection?

Do you know if anyone in the US federal government has responsibility for investigating geoblemes or tsunami remains?

What is the current state of the imaging of 73P's fragment stream?
Will WISE be able to make 2 band observations? Will the price of Moss take a sudden plunge in 2022?

Finally, the President sent a proposal in reply to a request from the Congress to set up an office under FEMA to plan impact response. Has any action been taken by the Congress yet? Any by NASA?

Thanks for your answers. I would not like to go on to late night talk radio and give more than 50,000 listeners wrong information, but I can.

PS - Hi Steve, Geoff - there's television, and then there's radio. I'm sure Discovery PR can line you up to take the public's questions.

That about uses up all my stupidity for the evening.

E.P. Grondine
Man and Impact in the Americas
Received on Mon 18 Apr 2011 12:56:35 AM PDT