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Projects: Space InformationTwo Fascinating Washington DC Area EventsBoth are free and open to the public! Earth Defense 101: Saving the Planet From a Killer AsteroidIf an asteroid has Earth's name on it, how can we erase it? Earth's name -- not the asteroid! On Tuesday, March 6, The Planetary Society will team with the Planetary Defense Conference, a gathering of world experts occurring that week in Washington, to present "Earth Defense 101: Saving the Planet from a Killer Asteroid." 7:00-9:00 PM Seating is limited; arrive early to secure a place. The solar system swarms with near earth objects that cross our planet's path. An asteroid probably doomed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and just a century ago an exploding asteroid or comet leveled and burned hundreds of square miles of Siberian forest. What if we discovered that an asteroid was not going to cross Earth's orbit but instead intersect it? What could we do to avoid a collision? A distinguished panel will discuss NEOs and planetary defense from many angles. The panel will be moderated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Planetary Society Chairman, Astrophysicist and Director, Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History.
Speakers include: * Rusty Schweickart, Apollo astronaut * Tom Jones, former shuttle astronaut
* Don Yeomans, Jet Propulsion Laboratory William Ailor, Director of the Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies with The Aerospace Corporation, will introduce the evening. Schweickart heads the B612 foundation, which is developing plans of how a mission might "nudge" an asteroid away from a collision course with Earth. He will discuss why scientists might formulate such a plan and engineers would go about implementing it. Yeomans will give an overview of NEOs -- what they are as well as how and why we study them. Friedman will discuss The Planetary Society's long involvement in near-Earth object research, from the Gene Shoemaker Grants awarded to asteroid researchers around the world to our current Apophis contest, which asks participants to design a mission to tag an asteroid to enable better tracking of it. Apophis, which will be discussed in detail, will fly by Earth in 2029 within the orbit of our geostationary communications satellites. Though a low probability, if it passes through a few hundred meter "keyhole," it will return to impact Earth in 2036. Tom Jones will move beyond defending our planet against asteroid "invaders" to take a look at one day sending human explorers to visit a near-Earth object. Join us for an exciting presentation on the business of near-Earth object detection, tracking and avoidance. Click here for
directions and more information on the Marvin New Horizons Encounters JupiterThe first event, held in cooperation with the Applied Physics Laboratory of John Hopkins University, marks a milestone on the New Horizons mission to Pluto. "New Horizons Encounters Jupiter" will be presented on Wednesday, February 28, 2007, the day after the spacecraft's encounter with Jupiter. John Spencer, New Horizons' co-investigator from the Southwest Research Institute, will share information about New Horizons and what the team will have learned thus far from the Jupiter encounter.
Bruce Betts, The Planetary Society's Director of Projects, will also be on hand to discuss the Society's Digital Time Capsule project in coordination with the New Horizons mission. The event will be held: February 28, 2007 7:00 - 8:00 PM Kossiakoff Center Auditorium The John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel, MD Click here for directions and location. We hope that you will have the opportunity to Questions about these events?
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