Earth may have survived its close encounters with an asteroid and a meteor Friday, but the episodes focused new attention on gaps in astronomers' ability to identify smaller space rocks like these capable of inflicting widespread destruction. Efforts to better identify those threats are underway, including...
We have received a tremendous amount of inquires on the Chelyabinsk event last Friday. Board member Clark Chapman and CEO Ed Lu put together this FAQ for our community. As the world had two cosmic events in one day, we’re doing our best to bring you...
A group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who helped build thriving companies have put millions of dollars into the effort of asteroid defense and Ed Lu’s B612 Foundation is one. "Wouldn’t it be silly if we got wiped out because we weren’t looking?” said Edward Lu, a...
[caption id="attachment_23849" align="alignnone" width="860"] REUTERS/Copyright 2013 EUMETSAT/Handout[/caption] Scientists have begun piecing together the characteristics of the meteor that exploded over Russia on the morning of February 15, using data from seismic instruments that track earthquakes and microphones designed to detect sonic booms from nuclear explosions. Unlike...
Today's meteor explosion over Chelyabinsk is a reminder that the Earth orbits the Sun in a shooting gallery of asteroids, and that these asteroids sometimes hit the Earth. Later today, a separate and larger asteroid, 2012 DA14, will narrowly miss the Earth passing beneath the...
Spaceship Earth just took two celestial shots across its bow as, first, a meteor struck Russia, showering the Chelyabinsk region with fragments and reportedly injuring several hundred people, and second, as Asteroid 2012 DA14 whizzed past on 15 February. Traditionally, a torpedo across the bow...
A Joseph asteroid is barreling towards -- eight times faster than a speeding bullet passing closer to lessen the satellites that broadcast is very program. But were still on a crash course here's ABC's Neal Karlinsky. On a sliding scale of things -- ruin your...
On Friday the 165-foot-diameter asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass by the planet just 18,000 miles above the atmosphere. The near miss of Earth is a dramatic reminder of the threat posed by its rogue relatives. Planetary scientists estimate there are close to a million near-earth...
He calls it the biggest environmental project imaginable. Ed Lu believes one of the biggest threats to the planet isn’t even on the Earth, it’s in space. Asteroids. Ed Lu says asteroids hit earth all the time. “Really small ones are just the shooting stars you...
This week, a hunk of space rock half the size of a football field will pass historically close to us, between Earth and our communication satellites. Scientists are certain the asteroid, dubbed 2012 DA14, will not hit Earth. If it did, the resulting explosion would...