For 20 years B612 advocated for a deflection technology demonstration mission. Scientists and experts gather, discuss and watch the historic DART impact. On September 26, humanity took an important step forward in our ability to protect planet Earth from asteroid impacts. NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection...
By Peter Schwartz and Dr. Ed Lu Humanity is about to take an important step forward in our ability to protect planet Earth from asteroid impacts. The DART probe (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) will demonstrate a method of changing the velocity of an asteroid, a capability...
Last week, NASA announced they will be pushing the launch date for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) from summer 2021 to the secondary launch window of November 24, 2021 to February 15, 2022. Even though the launch was pushed, this does not change the...
Fifty years ago today, astronaut Rusty Schweickart had 5 minutes alone above the Earth. 2019 is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 9 mission, crewed by Jim McDivitt, Dave Scott, and B612 co-founder Rusty Schweickart. There will be many celebrations of the mission. Some were this...
Over the past decade, B612, and now the Asteroid Institute, have argued for the importance of finding and tracking Near Earth Asteroids. Consistent with the Asteroid Day 100X Declaration, we have supported efforts to increase the rate of discovery and tracking of asteroids, from LSST to...
NASA recently announced it is supporting the building of two additional ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) telescopes to be built in the Southern hemisphere. This is good news as it will fill in the gaps since there are regions in the southern sky currently not...
It’s been a month since Asteroid Day 2018, and we want to share with you the reach and significance of what the B612 helped make happen on June 30. Ed and Rusty have been educating and advocating for the world to pay attention to the risks of...
ESA and NASA are currently reviewing the Hera Mission with plans to demonstrate that an asteroid can be shifted in its orbit by 2022. This is a great mission for ESA and NASA, and we look forward to cheering both agencies efforts during the course of...
Asteroid Institute responds to U.S. Asteroid Defense implementation plan. In December 2016, the U.S. Government released its strategy document on preparing for and preventing asteroid impacts in which they outlined which government agencies would be involved in the planning for such an event, and the broad...
A new survey shows Americans believe asteroid monitoring to be a national priority. And we believe humanity needs a map of asteroids in our solar system. Pew Research Center’s recently published survey asked “Should monitoring asteroids/objects that could hit the Earth be a top priority?” The...