Defending Earth From Asteroids
The B612 Foundation, dedicated to opening up the frontier of space exploration and protecting humanity from asteroid impacts, is providing information to media on this event hosted by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City on Friday, December 6, 2013 and livestreamed at www.amnh.org/live and involving the leadership of the B612 Foundation.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, Tom Jones, Rusty Schweickart, Rusty Schweickart and Ed Lu join former and current astronauts to discuss asteroid detection and mitigation and the UN Resolution calling for International Cooperation. All statements will be provided to attendees and online at www.amh.org andwww.b612foundation.org
Event will be live-streamed at AMNH.org/live
DATE: Friday, October 25
TIME: Program starts at 11 am (Eastern Time) sharp at the Museum of American History, NYC and online at amnh.org/live
WHAT: Hundreds of thousands of asteroids orbit the Sun, and a very few have a high risk of striking Earth. But a direct hit can be devastating, as evidenced by the explosion over Chelyabinsk, Russia, this February of a meteor no larger than a small barn, which injured more than 1,000 people. With current space technology, scientists know how to deflect the majority of hazardous near-Earth objects, but prevention is only possible if nations work together. Learn about the risks and the steps that are being taken to avoid these potential natural disasters from a group of astronauts and cosmonauts who have flown for three different space agencies — and who were instrumental in developing recommendations to the United Nations for defending Earth from asteroid impact. Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts the discussion, which comes in the same week as the United Nations General Assembly is set to adopt a suite of proposals for creating an international decision-making mechanism for planetary asteroid defense. The Museum and the Association of Space Explorers — a professional society of astronauts and cosmonauts — are cohosting this timely discussion.
WHO: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium; Thomas Jones, former NASA astronaut, senior research scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition; Russell Schweickart, former NASA astronaut, Association of Space Explorers founder, and chairman of the board of the B612 Foundation; Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu, former Romanian astronaut and vice president of the European International Institute for Risk, Security, and Communication Management; Soichi Noguchi, engineer and JAXA astronaut; Dr. Edward Lu, former NASA astronaut and chairman and CEO of the B612 Foundation.
WHERE: Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Hall of the Universe. Press should enter at the 81st Street entrance between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue.
ONLINE: This one-hour event will also be livestreamed at amnh.org/live
MEDIA CONTACT:
Speakers will be available following the program from Noon-1pm. To arrange interviews, contact:
Diane Murphy
B612 Foundation
diane@b612foundation.org
Kendra Snyder
AMNH
ksnyder@amnh.org
Andy Turnage
Association of Space Explorers
andy@space-explorers.org
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About the B612 Foundation
The B612 Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c) 3 organization dedicated to opening up the frontier of space exploration and protecting humanity from asteroid impacts. The B612 Foundation is carrying out the first privately managed interplanetary space mission. The B612 Sentinel Space Telescope will find and track threatening asteroids before they find us.
The name B612 is derived from the asteroid home of the Little Prince in the 1943 best-selling children’s novela, “Le Petit Prince,” the most famous work of Antoine de Saint-Exupery. In the book, the Little Prince came to realize that “what is essential is invisible to the eye.” This axiom holds true for humanity as well, as perhaps the most important challenge facing us is the half million Near Earth Asteroids in the sky – out of sight and out of mind of most people on Earth. The B612 Foundation believes that humanity can harness the power of science and technology to protect the future of civilization on this planet, while extending our reach into the solar system.
