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Planetary Defense – Scientific and Technology Background

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 December 2019

Extract

Near-Earth Objects: There are many objects in space that come close to earth's orbit. The velocities of asteroids or other near-earth objects (NEOs) that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other in the international community are examining are about seventeen kilometers a second—the energy releases are equivalent to the detonation of a nuclear weapon. NEOs that are of concern, “potentially hazardous objects,” are ones where their orbits bring them into five million miles of Earth's orbit. NASA and other observatories around the world are constantly scanning the skies for potentially hazardous “near-Earth objects,” and thousands have already been found. At the start of 2019, the number of discovered near-Earth asteroids totaled more than 19,000. An average of thirty new discoveries are added each week. NASA estimates that at least 17,000 big near-Earth asteroids have yet to be discovered.

Type
Who Speaks for Earth? International Law and Interstellar Events (Planetary Defense and Extraterrestrial Life)
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by The American Society of International Law

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Footnotes

The panel was convened at 11:00, a.m., Friday, March 29, 2019, by its moderator Shane Harris of the Washington Post, who introduced the panelists: Chris Borgen of St. John's University School of Law; Andrea Harrington of the Air Command and Staff College; Robin Frank of Grotius and Debrück; and Lindley N. Johnson of the Planetary Defense Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.*

*

Gordon Schmidt, Reed University (Portland, Oregon class of 2019), assisted in preparation of this paper.