When an asteroid exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February, shattering windows for miles and injuring well over 1,000 people, experts said it was a rare event — of a magnitude that might occur only once every 100 to 200 years, on average. But...
[caption id="attachment_615" align="alignright" width="485"] A hole blasted through the ice of Lake Chebarkul, southwest of Chelyabinsk, Russia, by a meteorite. Credit: Eduard Kalinin[/caption] In a special interview for the NYT, Dr. Ed Lu, former NASA space shuttle astronaut who heads the B612 Foundation, says that only...
When a meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia in February, the world’s space agencies found out along with the rest of us, on Twitter and YouTube. That, says former astronaut Ed Lu, is unacceptable—and the United Nations agrees. Last week the General Assembly approved a set...
For most people, going into outer space would be enough of a claim to fame — but the way astronaut Rusty Schweickart sees it, saving the world from killer asteroids is far more significant. "Apollo and Skylab were great experiences for me personally, but my NEO...
Even the United Nations is taking the threat of asteroids hitting our planet seriously. Last week, the U.N. General Assembly approved measures to coordinate detection and response to asteroid strikes that could level cities and possibly destroy our civilization. Specifically, the agency voted to create an International...
NEW YORK — Members of the United Nations met with distinguished astronauts and cosmonauts this week in New York to begin implementing the first-ever international contingency plan for defending Earth against catastrophic asteroid strikes. Six of the space travelers involved in these U.N. discussions spoke about...
NEW YORK — Members of the United Nations met with distinguished astronauts and cosmonauts this week in New York to begin implementing the first-ever international contingency plan for defending Earth against catastrophic asteroid strikes. Six of the space travelers involved in these U.N. discussions discussed the...
The United Nations is to adopt an asteroid defence plan. The decision emerged following recommendations from concerned former astronauts, including Ed Lu, who suggested it was unacceptable that many people within the space industry only knew about the Chelyabinsk meteor because it appeared on their...
The ASE Committee on Near-Earth Objects statement follows the United Nations General Assembly adoption of a suite of proposals to create an international decision-making mechanism for planetary asteroid defense. Five notable astronauts from three nations joined Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Frederick P. Rose Planetarium,...