Lawmakers to Discuss Dangerous Asteroids, Meteors in Hearing Today

[Buster's Uncle]

Lawmakers to Discuss Dangerous Asteroids, Meteors in Hearing Today
By Miriam Kramer | SPACE.com – 5 hrs ago

In light of Earth's most recent brushes with asteroids, the Science, Space and Technology Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is holding a hearing today (March 19) to assess what kind of threat space rocks pose.

The first in a series of meetings, "Threats from Space: A Review of U.S. Government Efforts to Track and Mitigate Asteroids and Meteors, Part 1," will examine ways in which the government — with help from agencies like NASA and the Air Force — can help protect the Earth from dangerous asteroids that could impact our planet.

Today's hearing will begin at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT), and will be streamed live online. You can watch the asteroid threat House hearing on SPACE.com, courtesy of NASA.

"Today’s events are a stark reminder of the need to invest in space science," Rep Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the Science, Space and Technology committee, said in on Feb. 15, when a meteor exploded over Russia on the same day that a large asteroid buzzed close by Earth.

On that day, the 150-foot-wide (40 m) asteroid, 2012 DA14 flew harmlessly by Earth as predicted by NASA scientists. Astronomers had been monitoring the space rock since last year when it was discovered by amateur astronomers in Spain. Scientists observed the rock as it passed within 17,200 miles (27,681 km) of the Earth's surface (a close shave in astronomical terms). [See Pictures of asteroid 2012 DA14's Flyby]

On the same day, a smaller, previously undetected meteor exploded in the sky over a populated part of the Ural Mountains in Russia.


"An unforeseen meteor (estimated 50 feet in diameter) exploded in the sky above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk releasing the equivalent of a 300 kiloton bomb, about twenty times the explosive energy of the atomic blast used over the city of Hiroshima," congressional officials wrote in the hearing's charter.

The hearing today will focus on the basics of tracking a meteor or asteroid, according to the charter. According to the hearing's charter, some of the questions congressional representatives hope to answer include:

Do we have the tools and technology necessary to detect and track near Earth objects?
How often do we currently observe large meteors entering the atmosphere safely over the ocean?
Are we tracking the right size objects, specifically the ones that can cause significant harm on Earth?
Once we identify an object, what are our means of tracking it?
What are our contingencies and mitigation capabilities if we determine there is a threat to the Earth from a NEO impact?
What process exists among government agencies, both foreign and domestic, in such an instance?
Three experts will take questions during the hearing. John Holdren, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House, advises President Barack Obama on issues related to science and technology.

Gen. William Shelton, the current commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, and NASA administrator Charles Bolden will also address the committee.

NASA's Near-Earth Objects Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. is responsible for investigating many of the meteors and asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth.

"Basically, our office takes observations from astronomers all over the world and computes their orbits and then tracks their motion about 100 years into the future to see if there is any interesting close Earth approaches for comets or asteroids," Don Yeomans, the director of the NEO program told SPACE.com during a video interview.


A second congressional hearing will focus on international efforts to survey the sky for asteroids and meteors, but organizations like the United Nations are calling attention to issues involving the detection of near-Earth objects today as well.

After the destruction in Russia, the Action Team on Near-Earth Objects of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, led by Sergio Camacho, proposed the formation of an advisory group that would monitor dangerous near-Earth objects.

"Mr. Camacho’s team, also known as Action Team 14, recommended the formation of an International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), which would pool together the expertise of the world’s many existing scientific agencies and organizations to discover and track objects and generate early warnings of potential impacts," United Nations officials wrote in a statement.

http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-discuss-dangerous-asteroids-meteors-hearing-today-114723149.html

The mundanes being scared about The Big Rock From Space is always good for the space program.

[Lord Avalon]

This is just in committee.  Getting the whole of Congress, House and Senate, to do anything is another matter.  There's no rich lobby for this, is there?

[Buster's Uncle]

Elon Musk and Richard Branson, I guess, and not a lot else.  -And I doubt they're concentrating on space rocks.

[Buster's Uncle]

Large asteroid heading to Earth? Pray, says NASA
By Irene Klotz | Reuters – 9 hrs ago...


CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA chief Charles Bolden has advice on how to handle a large asteroid headed toward New York City: Pray.

That's about all the United States - or anyone for that matter - could do at this point about unknown asteroids and meteors that may be on a collision course with Earth, Bolden told lawmakers at a U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee hearing on Tuesday.

An asteroid estimated to be have been about 55 feet in diameter exploded on February 15 over Chelyabinsk, Russia, generating shock waves that shattered windows and damaged buildings. More than 1,500 people were injured.

Later that day, a larger, unrelated asteroid discovered last year passed about 17,200 miles from Earth, closer than the network of television and weather satellites that ring the planet.

The events "serve as evidence that we live in an active solar system with potentially hazardous objects passing through our neighborhood with surprising frequency," said Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat.

"We were fortunate that the events of last month were simply an interesting coincidence rather than a catastrophe," said Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, who called the hearing to learn what is being done and how much money is needed to better protect the planet.

NASA has found and is tracking about 95 percent of the largest objects flying near Earth, those that are .62 miles or larger in diameter.

"An asteroid of that size, a kilometer or bigger, could plausibly end civilization," White House science advisor John Holdren told legislators at the same hearing.

But only about 10 percent of an estimated 10,000 potential "city-killer" asteroids, those with a diameter of about 165 feet have been found, Holdren added.

On average, objects of that size are estimated to hit Earth about once every 1,000 years.

"From the information we have, we don't know of an asteroid that will threaten the population of the United States," Bolden said. "But if it's coming in three weeks, pray."

In addition to stepping up its monitoring efforts and building international partnerships, NASA is looking at developing technologies to divert an object that may be on a collision course with Earth.

"The odds of a near-Earth object strike causing massive casualties and destruction of infrastructure are very small, but the potential consequences of such an event are so large it makes sense to takes the risk seriously," Holdren said.

About 66 million years ago, an object 6 miles in diameter is believed to have smashed into what is now the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, leading to the demise of the dinosaurs, as well as most plant and animal life on Earth.

The asteroid that exploded over Russia last month was the largest object to hit Earth's atmosphere since the 1908 Tunguska event when an asteroid or comet exploded over Siberia, leveling 80 million trees over more than 830 square miles (2,150 sq km).

http://news.yahoo.com/large-asteroid-heading-earth-pray-says-nasa-005545942.html