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Related: About this forumHow NASA’s planetary defense officer will protect Earth from asteroids
Not only that NASA increased the budget over 10 fold.......this year
which you can read further down in the article
Story
Its not hard to find innovative job titles in Corporate America Apple has the genius, eBay has the chief curator and AOL has the digital prophet. But NASA may have just topped all of them with a truly out-of-this-world innovation title: planetary defense officer.
The job description for planetary defense officer, the official title for the head of NASAs newly formed Planetary Defense Coordination Office, essentially boils down to this: Protect the planet from collisions with a near-Earth object such as an asteroid or comet. You know, just like in the movies Armageddon or Deep Impact, where a near-Earth object threatens to obliterate the planet.
The current holder of the planetary defense officer position is Lindley Johnson, a longtime near-Earth object program executive at NASA, who will now head up the Planetary Defense Coordination Office. The office remains within NASAs Planetary Science Division in Washington. The group is responsible for supervision of all projects to detect and track potentially hazardous objects such as asteroids and comets that pass near Earths orbit.
The officer will also play a leading role in coordinating interagency and intergovernmental efforts in response to any potential impact threats, including coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In a Hollywood movie, the planetary defense officer would likely be one of the individuals on the call to the White House, informing the president of a potential catastrophic deep impact.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/01/13/how-nasas-planetary-defense-officer-will-protect-earth-from-asteroids/
I think that Russian meteorite that struck , helped serve as a wake up call to the earth on this issue.
No one saw it coming and it could have easily been much, much, much worse than what occurred.......... the earth was lucky on that one
drm604
(16,230 posts)I hear no Republican politicians calling this alarmist or complaining about the money being spent on it, or saying that God will protect us, as opposed to climate change.
I suppose that's because this doesn't threaten any powerful industries, and may actually be good for the aerospace industry.
Don't get me wrong, I support this program 100%. I'm just saying that the hypocrisy exposes the truth behind a lot of right-wing denialism.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)"Wow, that is a really big asteroid and it is going to hit us!".
Duppers
(28,120 posts)The Pentagon spends more than that amount in an hour.
The reason NASA's budget has increased at all is that Ted Cruz is now heading the Subcommittee on Science and Space! He gets to nix NASA's earth science program funding (GCC research) and tell them what he wants done.... as if a mere $50 mil could save us from a big asteroid.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)detection of ones that might hit us.
At least some could flee in time.
Duppers
(28,120 posts)I'm apologize.
Thanks.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)and it was pathetic how nations were not paying attention nor spending any money on this potential threat to earth.
A visualisation of new data showing the surprising frequency at which the Earth is hit by asteroids has been released.
The finding was made by the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation, which operates a network of sensors that monitor the Earth around the clock listening for the infrasound signature of nuclear detonations.
Between 2000 and 2013, the sensors detected 26 explosions on Earth ranging in energy from one to 600 kilotonnes - but these were not caused by nuclear explosions, but rather by asteroid impacts.
To put the explosions in perspective, the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945 exploded with an energy impact of 15 kilotonnes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-video/10779617/See-where-asteroids-have-hit-Earth-since-2001.html
Can't imbed the video but its worth a watch
Duppers
(28,120 posts)I was unaware but not at all surprised that there have been that many large ones.
I've often heard criticism, even a few here, of NASA's funding, as if it were a waste. Folks usually have no idea about the scope of things NASA does.
Finding and predicting possible asteroids hits is so damn important. (In NO way did i intend to demean that work.) In fact, that has been the exact and very first reason I've given people as to why NASA's funding should be increased. It's critically important and something they can truly imagine and relate to.
I'm also quite pissed about Ted Cruz wanting to de-fund climate science programs. It's a reminder of when the Bush admins wouldn't let any NASA publications even mention climate warming or global climate change.
I think funding asteroid dectection should be the #1 priority, especially since seeing that video and article you posted above. Thanks again!
Strangely, I don't think manned space flights are that important (and I know an astronaut).
Disclosure--hubs, a physicist, has worked for the agency for the last 30+ years.
freebrew
(1,917 posts)"calling on Superman!"
Good idea to start on this, maybe. Could be able to stop a few of the slower smaller ones.
Gotta keep the earth populated so the rich have someone to screw. (that was a joke, sort of)
Oh well, I got nuthin'...