An international program to protect the earth from impact catastrophe - Initial stepsRisks posed by impacting objects of various sizes are analyzed using the Spaceguard Survey, the 1992 NASA report of International Near-Earth-Object (NEO) Detection workshop. The state-of-the-art technology makes it possible to discover and track nearly all earth-crossing asteroids and short-period comets large enough to threaten global catastrophe. To deal with this hazard a long-term telescopic search is required that reaches stellar magnitude 22 in order to achieve a nearly complete census of objects 1 km or larger. A program can be performed on the basis of an international network of six telescopes of 2-3 m aperture equipped with modern CCD detectors and automatic signal processing capability.
Document ID
19920073049
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Morrison, David (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)