WE HAVE the technology to detect and deflect dangerous space rocks, aka near-Earth objects (NEOs) 鈥� all we need is a coordinator. So says a two-year investigation by the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), a group of astronauts and other members of the space community, who are lobbying for the United Nations to take up the mantle.
鈥淔or 4.5 billion years, we鈥檝e been bashed continuously by asteroids. It鈥檚 time for that to stop,鈥� said Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart at the report鈥檚 launch in San Francisco last week. None of the 209 asteroids NASA is watching are dangerous, but NEO discoveries will rise by 鈥渂y a factor of 100鈥�, in the next 15 years, says Atlantis astronaut Ed Lu.
To counter such threats, the ASE wants an information network that will find, track and rate the risk of impact. A second project should assess plans to destroy or deflect an NEO. Both would be overseen by a group that would report to the UN security council and help member states set defences in motion, or coordinate evacuations.
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The ASE delivered its findings to a UN committee investigating NEOs, which plans to bring the issue to the attention of the UN general council as early as 2011.
Comets and Asteroids 鈥� Learn more about the threat to human civilisation in our .
