When
7 p.m., April 20, 2010
Where
Kuiper Space Sciences 308
Chicken Little's Reservoir: LPL's Legacy and Current Advancements in Near-Earth Asteroid Population Detection and Mitigation Efforts
Dr. Faith Vilas, LPL alumna and Director of the Multiple Mirror Telescope Obervatory (MMT), is the scheduled speaker. Information about the MMT is available here.
The transient population of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) represents the largest fraction of the Solar System objects that can impact the Earth. For the first time in its history, humankind has the capacity to consider how to prevent a catastrophic collision of a near-Earth object with the Earth, and the audacity to imagine that it can do so. In pursuit of this goal, LPL scientists have played a major role in shaping our understanding of the local- to global- catastrophic damage threat to humankind from the impact of Solar System objects on the Earth's surface. The first concerted effort to detect NEAs was pioneered at LPL; telescopic detection and characterization of NEAs, including the first detection of an imminent impactor, 2008 TC3, on its final approach to the Earth, continue at LPL to this day. The scars of earlier encounters of NEAs with the Earth are studied to understand their effects on the planet's history and evolution. Two robotic spacecraft have visited the NEAs 433 Eros and 25143 Itokawa. Large diameter telescopes now actively engage in observational studies of NEAs in order to expand our characterization of these objects. And, in a move to direct further detection and mitigation efforts in the United States (and encourage international efforts), the National Research Council has just released a study on defending planet Earth. I will review past, present, and possible future NEA studies, and LPL's involvement in saving humankind from mass destruction.
The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
Fifty years of Excellence in Research, Education, and Discovery: 1960-2010
Dr. Faith Vilas, LPL alumna and Director of the Multiple Mirror Telescope Obervatory (MMT), is the scheduled speaker. Information about the MMT is available here.
The transient population of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) represents the largest fraction of the Solar System objects that can impact the Earth. For the first time in its history, humankind has the capacity to consider how to prevent a catastrophic collision of a near-Earth object with the Earth, and the audacity to imagine that it can do so. In pursuit of this goal, LPL scientists have played a major role in shaping our understanding of the local- to global- catastrophic damage threat to humankind from the impact of Solar System objects on the Earth's surface. The first concerted effort to detect NEAs was pioneered at LPL; telescopic detection and characterization of NEAs, including the first detection of an imminent impactor, 2008 TC3, on its final approach to the Earth, continue at LPL to this day. The scars of earlier encounters of NEAs with the Earth are studied to understand their effects on the planet's history and evolution. Two robotic spacecraft have visited the NEAs 433 Eros and 25143 Itokawa. Large diameter telescopes now actively engage in observational studies of NEAs in order to expand our characterization of these objects. And, in a move to direct further detection and mitigation efforts in the United States (and encourage international efforts), the National Research Council has just released a study on defending planet Earth. I will review past, present, and possible future NEA studies, and LPL's involvement in saving humankind from mass destruction.
The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
Fifty years of Excellence in Research, Education, and Discovery: 1960-2010
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