> NEO News (10/04/02) House Hearings #1
>
> On Thursday, 4 October, the Space & Aeronautics Subcommittee of the
> Committee on Science of the U.S. House of Representatives held a
> hearing in Washington on the subject of NEO impacts. This edition of
> NEO News briefly summarizes the hearing and quotes from some of the
> early press reports. In a separate and longer message (House Hearings
> #2) I will circulate the prepared statements of the five witnesses.
>
> This is the fourth congressional hearing on the subject of the impact
> hazard. In 1993 a hearing was held to receive the reports from NASA
> on the initial Spaceguard Survey studies. In 1995 a similar report to
> the Congress was made from the Shoemaker study that was charged with
> developing an implementation plan for the Spaceguard Survey. A
> follow-up hearing in 1998 was the occasion for NASA to make the
> formal commitment to the Spaceguard goal for finding 90% of NEAs
> larger than 1 km my 2008. The primary propose of this 2002 hearing
> was to investigate what the next steps should be beyond the current
> survey. These questions were stimulated in part by two recent
> recommendations from the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) to
> build a new ground-based search system to extend the survey to 300 m
> diameter NEAs. The hearing was chaired by Subcommittee Chairman Dana
> Rohrabacher and attended by 6 other members as well -- a high
> indication of interest, especially as it competed with concurrent
> congressional activity to craft a resolution on Iraq and to complete
> numerous budget bills before the Congress adjourns for the year.
>
> The five witnesses who provided testimony were (in order of
> presentation) Dr. David Morrison of NASA Ames Research Center, Dr.
> Edward Weiler, NASA Associate Administrator for Space science, Dr.
> Joseph Burns of Cornell University (speaking also on behalf of the
> National Research Council), Dr. Brian Marsden of the
> Harvard-Smithsonian Minor Planet Center, and Brig. General (and Dr,)
> Pete Worden of the U.S. Air Force.
>
> In addition to a general review of the impact hazard and the current
> status of NEA surveys, the hearing focused primarily on two issues.
> First, Worden emphasized that given the current state of the world,
> it was more important than ever before for the the to U.S. to make
> available information on atmospheric explosions of meteors to ensure
> that potential belligerents not mistake these natural events for
> hostile action. Second, and more contentious, was the question of
> possible successor programs to the current Spaceguard Survey for NEAs
> larger than 1 km. Burns presented the case from the perspective of
> the NRC that NASA should continue to play a leading role in NEO
> searches, and that NASA should partner withe National Science
> Foundation (NSF) in constructing and operating the LSST, or
> Large-aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope, to extend the survey to 300
> m diameter NEAs. Weiler, however, while he reaffirmed the commitment
> of NASA to complete the current survey, stated that it was premature
> to make commitments now for a follow-up extended survey, and that no
> impartial study had been carried out of what the goals or approach of
> such a system might be. He further stated that NASA should not play a
> role in any ground-based follow-up NEA survey program.
>
> Following is a press release and a sampling of comment taken from
> initial press reports on the hearing. The full texts from the
> witnesses follow in a separate e-mail.
>
> David Morrison
>
> -------------------------------------
>
> PRESS RELEASE ON NEO HEARINGS
>
> Committee on Science
> U.S. House of Representatives
> SHERWOOD BOEHLERT, CHAIRMAN
> Ralph M. Hall, Texas, Ranking Democrat
>
> October 3, 2002
>
> EARTH PLAYING COSMIC ROULETTE WITH ASTEROIDS
>
> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Scientists are making progress in cataloguing and
> tracking large near-earth objects (NEOs), but a serious threat still
> remains from smaller objects, an expert panel told the Space and
> Aeronautics Subcommittee today.
>
> These smaller asteroids (200-500 meters wide) could potentially
> demolish a city with a direct hit or cause a tsunami capable of
> wiping out entire coastal areas if they land in the ocean. NASA has
> catalogued nearly 50 percent of asteroids 1 kilometer wide and
> larger. Astronomers estimate that between 900 and 1300 of the larger
> asteroids exist while there could be as many as 50,000 in the smaller
> range.
>
> Subcommittee Chairman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) stated, "The threat
> posed by incoming asteroids and comets is a serious, potentially
> life-threatening topic. Given the number of near-earth objects in
> space, it is a matter of time before we are faced with an event
> unparalleled in human history. I hope that my legislation, H.R. 5303
> [http://www.house.gov/science/press/107/107-286.htm], passed by the
> House on Tuesday will strengthen existing government capabilities for
> tracking natural space objects by encouraging private citizens to
> observe asteroids and comets."
>
> Subcommittee Ranking Member Bart Gordon (D-TN) added, "NASA's Mission
> Statement says that part of its mission is '... to protect our home
> planet.' I hope NASA will heed the message of today's hearing and
> work with other agencies of the U.S. government to craft a timely,
> cost-effective plan to detect and catalog as many as possible of the
> Near-Earth asteroids and comets that could potentially threaten our
> population. We cannot afford to be complacent."
>
> Dr. David Morrison, senior scientist at the NASA Ames Research
> Center, discussed NASA's goals and accomplishments in monitoring NEOs
> through the "Spaceguard" program. Morrison noted that Spaceguard was
> halfway to its goal and he expected that by 2008 NASA will have 90
> percent of large, kilometer-sized threatening asteroids catalogued.
> Morrison added, "Our objective should be to find a large impactor far
> in advance, and thus provide decision-makers with options for dealing
> with the threat and defending our planet from cosmic catastrophe."
>
> NEOs also pose a serious concern for the military, Brigadier General
> Simon P. Worden testified. Worden told of an asteroid that entered
> the atmosphere and exploded above the Mediterranean during last
> year's India-Pakistan conflict. U.S. satellites detected an energy
> release and shockwave comparable to the Hiroshima bomb, and Worden
> explained that had the event taken place at the same latitude two
> hours earlier and mistaken for a nuclear detonation it could have had
> devastating consequences. Worden added, "I believe there is
> considerable synergy between national security requirements related
> to man-made satellites and global security requirements related to
> NEO impacts."
>
> Witnesses also debated the merits of continuing the cataloging effort
> on smaller NEO's once the Spaceguard program is completed. Dr. Brian
> Marsden, Director of the Minor Planet Center of the Smithsonian
> Astrophysical Observatory, testified that handling the large amount
> of data from surveys of smaller NEOs would be a challenging, but
> feasible, task. Dr. Joseph Burns, a member of the Solar System
> Exploration Survey Committee of the National Research Council,
> testified that NASA should partner with the National Science
> Foundation to build and operate a large ground-based survey telescope
> because of NSF's expertise in ground based astronomy and NASA's
> traditional support of ground-based solar system observations that
> support space missions.
>
> Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science,
> disagreed saying, "I feel that it is premature to consider an
> extension of our current national program to include a complete
> search for smaller-sized NEOs." He also noted that NASA did not feel
> the agency "should play a role in any follow-on search and cataloging
> effort unless that effort needs to be specifically space-based in
> nature."
>
> Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) said, "For too long we've assumed that the
> worst asteroid risk would come from Hollywood -- in the form of a
> sequel to flops like Deep Impact or Armageddon. But the threat posed
> by Near Earth Objects is real, and if we can plow $100 million into a
> summer flick, we can certainly give NASA the means to make us safer
> from real life blockbusters."
>
> Witness testimony and an archived web cast of the proceedings can be found
> at http://www.house.gov/science/
>
> --------------------------------------
>
> ASTEROIDS MAY BE MISTAKEN AS NUCLEAR ATTACK OFFICIALS SAY
>
> The Associated Press, 4 October 2002
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) - At least 30 times a year, asteroids smash into the
> Earth's atmosphere and explode with the violence of a nuclear bomb.
> Now some officials are worried the natural explosions could trigger
> an atomic war.
>
> Air Force Brig. Gen. Simon P. Worden told members of a House Science
> subcommittee that the United States has instruments that determine
> within one minute if an atmospheric explosion is natural or manmade.
> But none of the other nations with nuclear weapons have that
> detection technology, and Worden said there is concern that some of
> those countries could mistake a natural explosion for an attack and
> immediately launch an atomic retaliation.
>
> Worden, deputy director for operations of the U.S. Strategic Command,
> said there was the risk of such a mistaken atomic exchange last
> August when Pakistan and India, both with atomic bombs, were at full
> alert and poised for war. Not far away, a few weeks before, Worden
> said, U.S. satellites detected over the Mediterranean an atmospheric
> flash that indicated ``an energy release comparable to the Hiroshima
> burst.'' Air Force instruments quickly determined it was caused by an
> asteroid 15 feet to 30 feet wide.
>
> Worden said early warning satellites do a good job of detecting
> asteroid bursts in the atmosphere and that new equipment will be even
> better. He said the Air Force is working on an asteroid alert program
> that would quickly send information from the satellites to interested
> nations. He said the Air Force is studying the establishment of what
> he called a Natural Impact Warning Clearinghouse that would be part
> of the North American Aerospace Defense Command communications center
> in Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs, Colo.
>
> --------------------------------------
>
> SMALL ASTEROID COULD BE MISTAKEN FOR NUCLEAR BLAST
>
> Reuters, 3 October 2002
>
> Astronomers have long been concerned about damage from asteroids,
> meteors and comets, and since 1998 NASA has worked to identify 90
> percent of all large near-Earth objects -- those with a diameter of
> .6 miles or more -- by 2008. NASA's head of space science, Ed Weiler,
> told the committee that scientists have identified 619 of the
> suspected big, dangerous asteroids, which is about half the number
> astronomers believe are out there.
>
> The United States spends about $4 million a year to track asteroids
> and comets, but very little on strategies to get them out of Earth's
> way, scientists said last month.
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> TRACKING EARTH-BOUND ASTEROIDS COULD NEED AMATEUR HELP
>
> Scripps Howard News Service, 3 October 2002
>
> NASA officials told the House Science Committee on Thursday that
> they're actually ahead of schedule with a 10-year search that aims to
> find 90 percent of near-Earth asteroids - those on an orbit that
> could put them in our planet's path - larger than about a half-mile
> in diameter.
>
> Still more likely to cause trouble are space rocks the size of a city
> block or football field. An asteroid of that size exploded more than
> a mile above a remote section of Siberia in 1908, devastating a
> 40-square-mile zone on the ground but causing few deaths. So far, the
> National Aeronautics and Space Administration and several
> international partners aren't even deliberately looking for objects
> that small, although they'll note them as they're found.
>
> An asteroid roughly that size passed within 75,000 miles from Earth
> just last summer, but wasn't detected until it was already moving
> away. Morrison and others said that such objects are capable of
> regional devastation and even wider damage if they fall into the
> ocean and generate tsunamis that could swamp cities on distant shores.
>
> "Something that size could wipe out Southern California. I don't take
> a lot of comfort that an object like that missed us by an
> astronomical hair, and we didn't see it coming," said Rep. Dana
> Rohrabacher, R-Calif., who heads the House space subcommittee.
>
> "There's no coordinated national policy, no one agency responsible
> for addressing this issue," Rohrabacher said, nor any planning for
> how to divert or otherwise protect Earth from impact if an asteroid
> on a collision course is found.
>
> --
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> David Morrison, NASA Ames Research Center 240-1
> Tel 650 604 5094; Fax 650 604 4251
> david.morrison@arc.nasa.gov or dmorrison@arc.nasa.gov
> website: http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov
> website: http://nai.arc.nasa.gov
> website: http://impact.arc.nasa.gov
>
>
>