NASA has launched a Planetary Defense Coordination Office to reorganize its approach to asteroid detection and response:
NASA has formalized its ongoing program for detecting and tracking near-Earth objects (NEOs) as the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). The office remains within NASA's Planetary Science Division, in the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The office will be responsible for supervision of all NASA-funded projects to find and characterize asteroids and comets that pass near Earth's orbit around the sun. It will also take a leading role in coordinating interagency and intergovernmental efforts in response to any potential impact threats.
More than 13,500 near-Earth objects of all sizes have been discovered to date -- more than 95 percent of them since NASA-funded surveys began in 1998. About 1,500 NEOs are now detected each year.
"Asteroid detection, tracking and defense of our planet is something that NASA, its interagency partners, and the global community take very seriously," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "While there are no known impact threats at this time, the 2013 Chelyabinsk super-fireball and the recent 'Halloween Asteroid' close approach remind us of why we need to remain vigilant and keep our eyes to the sky."
NASA has been engaged in worldwide planning for planetary defense for some time, and this office will improve and expand on those efforts, working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other federal agencies and departments.
The move follows a 2014 audit of NASA's asteroid detection activities that found a lack of "oversight, objectives, and established milestones".
Related Stories
[Time sensitive but remove breaking news nexus]
An asteroid with the potential to harm thousands of Earthlings was detected just two days before it passed by Earth:
A smallish asteroid zoomed past Earth this morning (Jan. 9), just two days after scientists first spotted the space rock. The asteroid, known as 2017 AG13, flew by our planet at just half the distance from Earth to the moon today at 7:47 a.m. EST (1247 GMT). (On average, the moon lies about 239,000 miles, or 385,000 kilometers, from Earth.) You can learn more about today's flyby in this video of asteroid 2017 AG13 from Slooh.com, which includes details on the space rock from Slooh Community Observatory astronomer Eric Edelman.
2017 AG13 is thought to be between 36 and 111 feet (11 to 34 meters) wide, according to astronomers at the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For perspective, the object that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013, injuring more than 1,000 people, was thought to be about 65 feet (20 m) wide.
See also: NASA Formalizes Planetary Defense Coordination Office to Track Asteroids
NASA and FEMA Conduct Asteroid Threat Response Exercise
NASA Office to Coordinate Asteroid Detection, Hazard Mitigation
2012 TC4 has passed by Earth:
2012 TC4 is estimated to be 45 to 100 feet (15 to 30 meters) in size. Orbit prediction experts say the asteroid poses no risk of impact with Earth. Nonetheless, its close approach to Earth is an opportunity to test the ability of a growing global observing network to communicate and coordinate their optical and radar observations in a real scenario.
This asteroid was discovered by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) on Hawaii back in 2012. Pan-STARRS conducts a near-Earth object (NEO) survey funded by NASA's NEO Observations Program, a key element of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office. However, 2012 TC4 traveled out of the range of asteroid-tracking telescopes shortly after it was discovered.
Based on the observations they were able to make in 2012, asteroid trackers predicted that it should come back into view in the fall of 2017. Observers with the European Space Agency and the European Southern Observatory were the first to recapture 2012 TC4, in late July 2017, using one of their large 8-meter aperture telescopes. Since then, observers around the world have been tracking the object as it approaches Earth and reporting their observations to the Minor Planet Center.
This "test" of what has become a global asteroid-impact early-warning system is a volunteer project, conceived and organized by NASA-funded asteroid observers and supported by the NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). As explained by Michael Kelley, program scientist and NASA PDCO lead for the TC4 observation campaign, "Asteroid trackers are using this flyby to test the worldwide asteroid detection and tracking network, assessing our capability to work together in response to finding a potential real asteroid-impact threat."
Previously: NASA Formalizes Planetary Defense Coordination Office to Track Asteroids
NASA and FEMA Conduct Asteroid Threat Response Exercise
Surprise Flyby of Asteroid on January 9, 2017
NASA to Redirect an Asteroid's Moon With Kinetic Impact
Asteroid 2012 TC4 Will Pass Close to Earth on October 12th
4.4 Kilometer Asteroid Safely Passes by Earth (two moons discovered)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ikanreed on Tuesday January 12 2016, @01:32PM
If we spot a likely earth killer, it will be years, no weeks, from hitting us. And there are decent non-nuke related ideas for how to deflect one, though it'd be the most expensive space mission ever launched. We actually may be technologically advanced enough to prevent the eradication of our species. That impresses the hell out of me.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Alfred on Tuesday January 12 2016, @02:23PM
(Score: 2) by rts008 on Tuesday January 12 2016, @03:56PM
In my opinion, your comment should have been modded 'informative' or 'insightful'.
There is nothing funny about the state of Earth, and the existing governments/corporations attitude towards stewardship of it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ikanreed on Tuesday January 12 2016, @06:57PM
There is a ton funny about the state of the earth and our governments. It's goddamn hilarious. A couple years back, we had a senator filibuster a piece of legislation by reading a children's book about the importance of not rejecting things out of hand.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 12 2016, @07:04PM
US would take the lead, being the only country powerful enough and with enough money to get the ball rolling unilaterally, then a handful of other Western countries (plus Japan/Korea) would provide resources and support. The rest of the world would bicker about how to divide the bill and end up not paying anything. So, business as usual.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday January 12 2016, @02:58PM
I'm more impressed that they've launched an office. The really important question is, did the coffee pot survive the launch? Any office without a coffee pot is totally worthless.
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 12 2016, @07:48PM
I forgot to mention the office is in spaaaace.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 12 2016, @05:58PM
Some of the options available, like launching a robotic craft to paint an asteroid, seem doable for well under $1 billion.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday January 12 2016, @08:17PM
TL;DR - Christian Perspective: Score: God 1 - Space Rock 0
Depending on the size of the "Earth Killer" there may be nothing we could do anyway. Who would pay for it? Just the United States? Russia? Great Britain? Would the United States even have enough funding to possibly do anything? How much red tape would get in the way? Would there be enough time to get all of the respective ducks in a row to get it done? Would there be a contingency plan? Would say a country like Russia not launch a plan of their own devising that they think would be better? (Which could possibly destroy the plan NASA was devising.) There's so many variables that would possibly cause the plan to be put in place too late or you know perhaps the rockets could blow up or what not. It would possibly take an unprecedented level of world cooperation to save the earth. It would be in the world's best interest for a plan to succeed, but there are always a few radicals (People Crazy Enough to want the Earth to be destroyed.) out there. As a Christian, I'm not sure that I would be for or against such spending. Assuming their only focus is to detect "the Earth Killer", I would have a hard time placing my stamp of approval on the project. The story of the Tower of Babel in the bible seems to be similar to this project. The people of the earth wanted to build a building so tall that there could never be a flood that could destroy everything again. The difference is that God had specifically promised that he would never again do that. He never said anything about Giant Asteroids, but I'm thinking the sentiment stands. There's no need to worry about Total Global destruction, until God destroys the world Himself. In which case, you'll have bigger problems besides the destruction of earth, if you aren't on His side.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday January 12 2016, @10:51PM
I'm pretty sure that no-one involved in planning a mission to prevent a planet killing asteroid from hitting us will take a Christian Perspective of the project.
They will tend to be people who understand that the Tower of Babel story in the Bible is allegory, not history.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 13 2016, @03:55AM
The asteroid 2015 TB145 [wikipedia.org] was discovered last year on 10 October, 3 weeks before reaching its perigee of 1.3 times the distance to the Moon, on 31 October [extremetech.com]. Although it is around 300 to 500 m in diameter (the one over Chelyabinsk was around 20 m in diameter), its albedo is only about 0.01 to 0.03 [nasa.gov]; in other words it's dark-coloured. That makes it difficult to observe optically.
(Score: 3, Funny) by dublet on Tuesday January 12 2016, @01:38PM
Do these coordinators get to call themselves "Planetary Defenders"? And do they get capes to make woosh noises [explosm.net]?
"If anyone needs me, I'm in the angry dome. [dublet.org]"
(Score: 3, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday January 12 2016, @07:05PM
Do these coordinators get to call themselves "Planetary Defenders"? And do they get capes to make woosh noises?
Unfortunately, they went with "Planeteers." The guy who got "Heart" is pissed!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 12 2016, @04:02PM