Press Release

Asteroid Day to Announce Increased Global Support and Preview 2017 Events at February 14 Press Conference

By SpaceRef Editor
February 8, 2017
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Asteroid Day to Announce Increased Global Support and Preview 2017 Events at February 14 Press Conference – Live from Luxembourg City, Berlin, Silicon Valley, Bucharest and London.

DATE: February 14, 2017
TIME: 2.30PM – 3.30PM CET | 08.30AM – 9.30AM EST

Web Access: http://asteroidday.org/pressconference
 

LONDON (February 8, 2017) – Asteroid Day, a rising global movement to protect our planet, families, communities, and future generations from dangerous asteroids, has scheduled a Global Press Conference, February 14, to announce new partners, sponsors and activities, and to preview Asteroid Day events being organized around the world for June 30, 2017.

Asteroid Day, is held each year on the anniversary of the largest asteroid impact of earth in recent history, the Tunguska event of 1908, which destroyed about 1000 square kilometers in Siberia. The press conference to announce Asteroid Day is being held on the eve of the anniversary of the Chelyabinsk asteroid impact, the most recent asteroid impact, which injured about 1500 individuals in 2013. Asteroid Day was co-founded in 2014 by filmmaker Grig Richters, Silicon Valley business leader Danica Remy, Apollo 9 Astronaut Rusty Schweickart, and Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist and lead guitarist of QUEEN.

United Nations Declaration: On December 7, 2016, the United Nations General Assembly officially recognised Asteroid Day as an annual event, declaring  “30 June International Asteroid Day to observe each year at the international level, the anniversary of the Tunguska impact over Siberia, Russia, on 30 June 1908 and to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard.”
 

PRESS CONFERENCE DETAILS

DATE: February 14, 2017
TIME: 2.30PM – 3.30PM CET | 08.30AM – 9.30AM EST

The press conference will be held live at five locations around the world, with media invited to participate in Luxembourg and Berlin. Speakers participating from Cisco TelePresence Centers in Silicon Valley, Bucharest and London are available for one on one interviews, as requested. The full agenda with speakers at each location is listed below. The press conference also will be recorded and available on YouTube and AsteroidDay.org website, courtesy of Cisco, a new corporate partner of Asteroid Day.

SPEAKERS BY LOCATION

RSVP to: pr@asteroidday.org for links to audio and video, as well as to schedule one-on-one interviews.

Luxembourg City – Address: Cisco Systems, Avenue JF Kennedy 46A, 4th Floor, Luxembourg L-1855. RSVP here for to attend.

Etienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of the Economy, Luxembourg

Franco Ongaro, Director of Technology, Engineering & Quality and Head of ESTEC Establishment

Patrick Michel, Principal Investigator Asteroid Impact Mission

SES Satellites Representatives

Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB

Danica Remy & Grig Richters, Co-founders, Asteroid Day

Berlin, Germany – Address: Cisco Systems, Kurfuerstendamm 22 | 12th Floor | Berlin D-10719. RSVP here to attend.

Speakers to be announced

Bucharest, Romania – Cisco Center

Dorin Prunariu, Romanian astronaut, Asteroid Day ambassador

San Jose, California – Cisco Center

Ed Lu, three time US Astronaut, Co-founder, B612

Michael Yutrzenka Sr. Director, Corporate Affairs Cisco

London, UK – Cisco Center

Debbie Lewis, Asteroid Day Risk Management expert; Expert Panel Deputy Chairwoman
 

100X Declaration

Asteroid Day experts will brief reporters on the progress of major asteroid-related programs related to the organisation’s circulated 100x Declaration, signed by leaders in science, technology, government, entertainment, and citizens around the world. A full list of signatories can be found at AsteroidDay.org

The 100x Declaration targeted three goals:

A rapid 100-fold acceleration of the discovery and tracking of Near-Earth Asteroids to 100,000 per year within the next ten years,

Employ available technology to detect and track Near-Earth Asteroids that threaten human populations via governments and private and philanthropic organisations,

Global adoption of Asteroid Day, heightening awareness of the asteroid hazard and our efforts to prevent impacts, on June 30. This final goal was accomplished with the December 2016 UN Declaration.

 
RESOURCES FOR JOURNALISTS

Web Access: http://asteroidday.org/pressconference

Events: https://asteroidday.org/event-guide/

Photos and Video are available in the Asteroid Day Newsroom. Photos of Asteroid Day events: https://www.flickr.com/photos/asteroidday/

Bios of Asteroid Day Experts (available for interviews): http://asteroidday.org/asteroid-day-expert-panel

 

MEDIA CONTACTS

US: Diane Murphy (pr@asteroidday.org); Tel. +1310.6588756; EUROPE: Tel: +49 15225672398

SpaceRef staff editor.