The workshop report discusses a preliminary "roadmap" based on five themes: more complete and accurate surveys of the orbits of potentially hazardous objects; improved public education about the risk; characterizing the physical properties of a range of asteroids and comets; more extensive laboratory research; and initial physical experiments toward a realistic plan to intercept and divert a future incoming object.
In order to keep maximum annual expenses on the order of a typical spacecraft mission (approximately U.S. $300 million), the report estimates that it would take about 25 years to accomplish this roadmap.
National Geographic Resources on Comets and Asteroids News Stories:
Comets: How Big A Threat To Earth?
Comets May Have Led to Birth and Death of Dinosaur Era
What Caused Argentina's Mystery Craters?
Chesapeake Bay Crater Offers Clues to Ancient Cataclysm
Is a Large Asteroid Headed for Impact With Earth in 2880?
Researchers Rethink Dinosaur Die Off Scenario
Fossil Leaves Suggest Asteroid Killed Dinosaurs
Fighter Jet Hunts for 'Vulcanoid' Asteroids
U.S. Summons Experts to Draft Asteroid Defense Plan
Mass Extinction That Led to Age of Dinosaurs Was Swift, Study Shows
Universe Reborn Endlessly in New Model of the Cosmos
Was Moon Born From Planet's Crash Into Earth?
Interactive Features:
Virtual Solar System
Asteroids: Deadly Impact
|
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES
|
