NASA's New Planetary Defense Office Gets to Work Protecting Earth
By Leonard David, Space.com's Space Insider Columnist |
New NASA organization dedicated to protecting Earth from dangerous asteroids has hit the ground running.
In early January, NASA announced the establishment of a Planetary Defense Coordination Office
(PDCO), which will synchronize U.S. efforts to deal with threatening
near-Earth objects (NEOs) and will supervise all NASA-funded projects to
find and characterize asteroids and comets that visit Earth's
neighborhood.
"There is no identified threat that we know of right now," said Lindley Johnson, NASA's new planetary defense officer. [Photos: Potentially Dangerous Asteroids in Space]
"Our job is to look for that and identify a NEO as far in advance as we can," Johnson told Space.com in an exclusive interview. "Doing so means we have the maximum amount of time to appropriately deal with the object, be it a small impactor or something that's larger, calling for a kinetic impactor mission, or whatever needs to be done."
"There is no identified threat that we know of right now," said Lindley Johnson, NASA's new planetary defense officer. [Photos: Potentially Dangerous Asteroids in Space]
"Our job is to look for that and identify a NEO as far in advance as we can," Johnson told Space.com in an exclusive interview. "Doing so means we have the maximum amount of time to appropriately deal with the object, be it a small impactor or something that's larger, calling for a kinetic impactor mission, or whatever needs to be done."
