Asteroid Day: 2016 Events on 30 June; Press Conference on 9 February
Building on the highly successful first-ever Asteroid Day in 2015, organizers, together with the European Space Agency, will announce partners and the addition of premier and independently organized events for Asteroid Day 2016, scheduled for 30 June around the world.
Date of Press Conference: 9 February 2016
Time: 15:00 CET (14:00 UTC/GMT)
Location: ESA ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, Netherlands
Speakers: See below
Media Access:
* In person at ESTEC or via the Internet
* Media is also invited to tour the ESTEC facility: Tour begins at 13:00 CET
* RSVP for ESTEC or remote attendance: PR@asteroidday.org
* Questions: forward via email to pr@asteroidday.org or via Twitter (#AsteroidDay)
* Journalists requesting 1-1 interviews: contact Diane Murphy, pr@asteroidday.org
* Press conference will be webcast: RSVP for access instructions
Asteroid Day is a global movement to increase public awareness of potential asteroid collisions and the means to protect Earth. It was co-founded in 2015, by Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist and lead guitarist for the rock band Queen, Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, and German filmmaker Grig Richters. Asteroid Day is held on 30 June each year to mark Earth’s largest asteroid impact in recorded history, the Siberia Tunguska event, which devastated over 2000 square km, the size of a major metropolitan city.
On Asteroid Day, people from around the world come together to recognize the collective responsibility to address asteroid impacts, the only natural disaster humankind can prevent through increased awareness and education. Events include lectures, films, expert science presentations and educational workshops, variously organized by museums, research institutes, government agencies, universities, astronomers, filmmakers and concerned citizens. In 2015, on the inaugural Asteroid Day, partners organized more than 150 events worldwide, educating millions of people and generating some 4 billion media impressions.
Press Conference Participants:
* Host/Emcee: Dr. Stuart Clark, Astronomy Author and Journalist
* Dr. Brian May, Astrophysicist, Co-founder of Asteroid Day
* Grig Richters, Filmmaker and Co-founder of Asteroid Day
* Franco Ongaro, Director of Technical and Quality Management, European Space Agency (ESA)
* Ian Carnelli, Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) Manager, European Space Agency (ESA)
* Detlef Koschny, Space Situational Awareness — Near-Earth Object co-Manager, European Space Agency (ESA)
* Richard Moissl, Rosetta Instrument Liaison Officer, European Space Agency (ESA)
* Dr. Patrick Michel, Planetary Scientist, Sr. Researcher at CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research)
* Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, UK
* Dr. Mark Boslough, Physicist and Planetary Defense expert; Sandia National Laboratories; Adjunct professor, University of New Mexico; Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
* Astronaut Dr. Ed Lu, Three-time Shuttle astronaut; Asteroid expert and Founder/CEO, B612 Foundation
* Romanian Astronaut Dumitru Dorin Prunariu; Founding member, Association of Space Explorers (ASE) and liaison to the UN Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Space
* Astronaut Dr. Tom Jones, Four-time Shuttle Astronaut; Planetary scientist, Chair, Association of Space Explorers (ASE) Committee on Near-Earth Objects.
* Astronaut Chris Hadfield, Canadian astronaut and first Canadian spacewalker
* Cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma, First Indian to space
Contacts:
Diane Murphy
Asteroid Day
+1 310 658 8756
pr@asteroidday.org
Ninja Menning
European Space Agency:
+31 621 437 558
estecpr@esa.int
Additional information on Asteroid Day and the 100x Asteroid Declaration as well as photos and B-roll are available at http://asteroidday.org/newsroom
