NASA Should Lead More Focused Program to Reduce Threat from Hazardous Asteroids | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

NASA Should Lead More Focused Program to Reduce Threat from Hazardous Asteroids | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference: "
NASA Should Lead More Focused Program to Reduce Threat from Hazardous Asteroids
PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Source: National Optical Astronomy Observatory
NASA should be assigned to lead a new research program to better determine the population and physical diversity of near-Earth objects that may collide with our planet, down to a size of 200 meters, according to the final report of a workshop on the scientific requirements for the mitigation of hazardous comets and asteroids.
The workshop�s report also recommends that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) work to more rapidly communicate surveillance data on natural airbursts of smaller rocky bodies, and it concludes that governmental policy makers must 'formulate a chain of responsibility' to be better prepared in the event that a threat to Earth becomes known.
�As our discussions proceeded, it became clear that the prime impediment to further advances in this field is the lack of assigned responsibility to any national or international governmental organization,� said planetary scientist Michael Belton, organizer of the September 2002 workshop. �Since it is part of NASA�s newly stated mission to �understand and protect our home planet,� it seems obvious that this responsibility should reside in NASA.�
Belton presented the findings of the workshop today in Washington, DC, to officials at NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Management and Budget, and the report was delivered to the U.S. Congress.
About 2,225 near-Earth objects (NEOs) have been detected, primarily by ground-based optical searches, in the size range between 10 meters and 30 kilometers, out of a total estimated"