While we all enjoy the beauty surrounding us in Mon- tecito, we are often reminded by tremors that this is “Earthquake Central.” We hear and read continually that the question is not if “The Big One” is coming, but when. Just imagine if you could predict the exact time and place of every major earthquake, most midsized ones and many small quakes for the next 100 years. And suppose you could also stop those earthquakes from happening?

That is what former NASA astronaut Ed Lu is preparing to do, to pro- tect us from a rather similar kind of natural disaster, asteroids striking the Earth. He is leading a unique project to launch a telescope into space that will map all the asteroids that orbit close to Earth. While earthquakes are unpredictable, orbits in space can be calculated very precisely. Once asteroids are found, it is possible to discover exactly if, when and where they will strike the Earth.

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