Humanity has the technical know-how to deflect a killer asteroid away from Earth, but whether the world can come together to pull it off in time is another matter. A looming asteroid strike would be a global problem demanding a complex and coordinated response, experts say....
Ed Lu Ph.D. 89 is a former NASA astronaut more recently known for his work as CEO of the B612 Foundation, which aims to “hunt asteroids that could hit the Earth and potentially cause human devastation.” Lu sat down with The Daily to discuss his...
Can humans do better than the dinosaurs? This is one of a string of questions I posed in a Skype chat on Sunday with Russell L. Schweickart, the Apollo 9 astronaut who has become a leading proponent of investing in tools that can spot and deflect...
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...
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...