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From the Executive DirectorDefending the Planet
March 9, 2007 This past week, I attended the Planetary Defense Conference in Washington, D.C. Despite its title, this was not a military planning exercise to deal with an alien invasion of Earth. Rather it was a meeting of scientists and engineers looking potential dangers from asteroids or comets that orbit close by Earth -- including what we might do if one were discovered on a collision course with our planet. Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are a major program area for The Planetary Society, and at a public session which the Society organized during the Conference, I was delighted to announce the winners of this year's Gene Shoemaker NEO Grants. Society Board Chair Neil deGrasse Tyson hosted a panel consisting of Astronauts Rusty Schweikert and Tom Jones, scientist Don Yeomans, and myself to bring the public up-to-speed on the latest NEO developments. The dangers of NEOs hit the scientific and public consciousness in the 1980s with the realization that 65 million years ago an impact wiped out the dinosaurs and changed the course of evolution on Earth. We humans, whose ancestors were the beneficiaries of that asteroid, are now paying attention to planetary defense, and considering the smaller impacts that can cause great regional and local damage. These may not end civilization, but they occur far more frequently and can cause much human suffering. Press reports on the conference featured headlines like "NASA Can't Pay for Killer Asteroid Hunt," based on a just-completed a report to Congress about what would be required to find 90 percent of such objects by 2020. Although ground-based surveys can meet much of that goal -- and perhaps all of it by 2026 -- it would require space missions to meet the 2020 deadline. Ironically, while scientists and engineers talked about large, expensive programs, one very small program vital to tracking near-Earth objects is in danger of imminent termination. This is the Arecibo planetary radar, which is the only instrument in the world capable of precisely tracking NEOs. The Planetary Society is protesting this recommendation made by a science panel advising the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF wants NASA to pay for it, NASA says Arecibo is a NSF facility -- and therein lies the problem: no bureaucratic home for NEOs. For me, the most interesting discussion of the conference was the one led by Society advisor and ex-shuttle Astronaut Tom Jones. He and others, including Society director Chris McKay -- in his NASA role as Deputy Constellation Project Scientist -- are championing a human mission to a NEO as a valuable and exciting step in the Vision for Space Exploration. To see astronauts bounding across those low-gravity objects, determining their composition and physical properties and bringing back pieces to Earth, would sure be exciting. The mission requires interplanetary travel, and thus in many ways is a better precursor to Mars missions than are lunar missions. And they are in many ways easier than lunar missions, which require complex landings and surface operations. Most exciting of all, however, would be the terrific public response generated by a human mission to an asteroid. Expect to be hearing more about this. -- Louis Friedman Comments? We welcome your opinions on this subject. Send us email! |
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