NASA Opens Planetary Defense Office
Jan 13, 2016 12:40:46 GMT -6
Nugget, Glencairn, and 1 more like this
Post by Rickster on Jan 13, 2016 12:40:46 GMT -6
SOURCE:
I guess I find this unusual because NASA is an existing agency, why the need to fund and create an additional office and agency? We are already doing this in conjunction with the Air Force and the Space Fence to monitor all objects in space.
"This Chelyabinsk sky rendering is a reconstruction of the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia on Feb. 15, 2013. Scientific study of the airburst has provided information about the origin, trajectory and power of the explosion. This simulation of the Chelyabinsk meteor explosion by Mark Boslough was rendered by Brad Carvey using the CTH code on Sandia National Laboratories’ Red Sky supercomputer. Andrea Carvey composited the wireframe tail. "
So they are going to work with FEMA and other international counterparts? This sounds like a money spending excuse to bring out the Black Budget Funding because it has become to large to hide anymore. In the past they have done well to hide money from congress in regards to the space program. I didn't even know there were international counterparts already monitoring NEO (Near Earth Objects) that could impact the earth. Does this make sense to anyone? Again we are already doing this.
Reduce the risk
This begs the question what did they think they could achieve with 50 million dollars should a threat enter into a position to impact the earth? Again this is just the first step into spending huge sums of money for additional space projects we will never know about but funding will be more in the open.
"A major step has been taken to coordinate U.S. agencies and intergovernmental efforts to respond to future near-Earth objects that threaten Earth.
NASA has announced the creation of a Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). Lindley Johnson, NASA's current near-Earth object (NEO) program executive will lead the newly established office. The PDCO will reside within NASA's Planetary Science Division, in the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
"The formal establishment of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office makes it evident that the agency is committed to perform a leadership role in national and international efforts for the detection of these natural impact hazards, and to be engaged in planning if there is a need for planetary defense," Johnson said in a NASA statement."
NASA has announced the creation of a Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). Lindley Johnson, NASA's current near-Earth object (NEO) program executive will lead the newly established office. The PDCO will reside within NASA's Planetary Science Division, in the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
"The formal establishment of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office makes it evident that the agency is committed to perform a leadership role in national and international efforts for the detection of these natural impact hazards, and to be engaged in planning if there is a need for planetary defense," Johnson said in a NASA statement."
I guess I find this unusual because NASA is an existing agency, why the need to fund and create an additional office and agency? We are already doing this in conjunction with the Air Force and the Space Fence to monitor all objects in space.
"This Chelyabinsk sky rendering is a reconstruction of the asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia on Feb. 15, 2013. Scientific study of the airburst has provided information about the origin, trajectory and power of the explosion. This simulation of the Chelyabinsk meteor explosion by Mark Boslough was rendered by Brad Carvey using the CTH code on Sandia National Laboratories’ Red Sky supercomputer. Andrea Carvey composited the wireframe tail. "
Planetary defense duties
"What will the office do? It 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;
Lead the coordination of interagency and intergovernmental efforts to plan response to any potential impact threats.
Improve and expand on past efforts with other U.S. federal agencies and departments, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Continue to assist with the coordination across the U.S. government, including planning for response to an actual impact threat and working in conjunction with FEMA, the Department of Defense, other U.S. agencies, and international counterparts.
Issue notices of close passes and warnings of any detected potential NEO impacts, based on credible science data."
"What will the office do? It 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;
Lead the coordination of interagency and intergovernmental efforts to plan response to any potential impact threats.
Improve and expand on past efforts with other U.S. federal agencies and departments, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Continue to assist with the coordination across the U.S. government, including planning for response to an actual impact threat and working in conjunction with FEMA, the Department of Defense, other U.S. agencies, and international counterparts.
Issue notices of close passes and warnings of any detected potential NEO impacts, based on credible science data."
Reduce the risk
"The recently passed federal budget for fiscal year 2016 includes $50 million for NEO observations and planetary defense, representing a more than ten-fold increase since the beginning of the President Obama administration.
Indeed, within the White House National Space Policy released on June 28, 2010, it notes under "Civil Space Guidelines" that the Administrator of NASA shall: "Pursue capabilities, in cooperation with other departments, agencies, and commercial partners, to detect, track, catalog, and characterize near-Earth objects to reduce the risk of harm to humans from an unexpected impact on our planet and to identify potentially resource-rich planetary objects."
Indeed, within the White House National Space Policy released on June 28, 2010, it notes under "Civil Space Guidelines" that the Administrator of NASA shall: "Pursue capabilities, in cooperation with other departments, agencies, and commercial partners, to detect, track, catalog, and characterize near-Earth objects to reduce the risk of harm to humans from an unexpected impact on our planet and to identify potentially resource-rich planetary objects."
