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Target Earth

Target Earth Update: Target Earth: How Prepared Are We? June 30 marked the 100th anniversary of the Tunguska event, the day in 1908 when an asteroid or comet entered Earth's atmosphere and, in effect, fired an astronomical warning shot across our bow. How prepared is Earth today to avoid disaster from the skies? The dangers our planet faces from near-Earth objects (NEOs) are the focus of The Planetary Society's Target Earth program...more.

We Live in a Busy Solar System!

2008 marks the beginning of "Target Earth" -- a year-long focus on Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and the hazards that marauding space-rocks pose to our planet. The program will focus on a variety of NEO projects supported by The Planetary Society, including the Apophis Mission Design Competition, the Gene Shoemaker Near Earth Object Grants, NEO research advocacy, and a one-hour HD TV special on asteroids being produced by Discovery Canada.

Target Earth coincides with the 100th anniversary of the largest asteroid impact on Earth in recent history -- the Tunguska event.

The tracking of near-Earth objects has been a priority for The Planetary Society since its inception. Of more than a quarter-million dollars donated by the Society to NEO research over the years, more than half has come in the form of Shoemaker NEO Grants to amateur observers. One of the grant's recipients, Roy Tucker from Arizona, co-discovered Apophis, the 300-meter-diameter asteroid that will make a spectacularly close passage by our planet in 2029 and again in 2036.

"The solar system is a busy place, said Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society. "We live in a dangerous neighborhood, and keeping track of NEOs is like organizing a neighborhood watch in our corner of space."

Target Earth encompasses The Planetary Society's three-pronged approach to NEO research: funding researchers who discover and track asteroids, advocating greater NEO research funding by the government, and helping spur the development of possible ways to avert disaster should a potentially dangerous asteroid be discovered.



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More Related Headlines:  Asteroids and Comets | Earth | Education and Outreach | Near Earth Objects | The Planetary Society