SETI public: [Fwd: CCNet: SANTA CLAUS ON TIME: NASA'S NEO BILL HEADED TO THE PRESIDENT'S DESK]

• Previous message: LARRY KLAES: "SETI public: Two papers on exoworlds"

attached mail follows:

CCNet 172/2005, 22 December 2005
SANTA CLAUS ON TIME: NASA'S NEO BILL HEADED TO THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
Early this morning the Senate approved the Conference Report for S. 1281,
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Authorization Act
by a unanimous consent agreement. On Saturday, December 17, 2005, the
House approved the Conference Report by a unanimous voice vote. The bill
will now be sent to the President for his expected signature, marking the first
time in five years a NASA authorization bill has been signed into law.
          --Space Ref, 22 December 2005

 
 
(1) NASA AUTHORIZATION ACT HEADED TO THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
     Space Ref, 22 December 2005

(2) NASA ADMINISTRATOR'S AUTHORIZATION BILL STATEMENT
      NASA News <hqnews_at_mediaservices.nasa.gov <mailto:hqnews_at_mediaservices.nasa.gov> >

(3) GEORGE E. BROWN, JR. NEAR-EARTH OBJECT SURVEY ACT
      The Library of Congress
 
(4) AND FINALLY: ASTEROID THREAT 'TO CEASE WITHIN 30 YEARS'
      The Scotsman, 9 August 2004

=======

(1) NASA AUTHORIZATION ACT HEADED TO THE PRESIDENT'S DESK
 
Space Ref, 22 December 2005
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18597 <http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18597>
 
PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Thursday, December 22, 2005
Source: Rep. Calvert
 
WASHINGTON, DC - Early this morning the Senate approved the Conference Report for S. 1281,
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Authorization Act by a unanimous
consent agreement. On Saturday, December 17, 2005, the House approved the Conference Report
by a unanimous voice vote. The bill will now be sent to the President for his expected signature, marking
the first time in five years a NASA authorization bill has been signed into law.
 
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) authored the House-version of the bill, H.R. 3070, and chairs the
Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics on the House Science Committee. "Senate passage
of S. 1281 culminates a year's worth of effort by the House, Senate and the Administration," said
Rep. Calvert. "This bill will provide the 'rules and tools' to help America succeed in the Second
Space Age."
 
FULL STORY at http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18597 <http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18597>
 
==========
(2) NASA ADMINISTRATOR'S AUTHORIZATION BILL STATEMENT

NASA News hqnews_at_mediaservices.nasa.gov <mailto:hqnews_at_mediaservices.nasa.gov>

Dec. 22, 2005

Dean Acosta/David Mould
Headquarters, Washington
(202) 358-1400/1898

RELEASE: 05-589

NASA ADMINISTRATOR'S AUTHORIZATION BILL STATEMENT

The following is a statement by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin
about the NASA Authorization Bill.

"Passage of this legislation marks another endorsement by the Congress
of the nation's Vision for Space Exploration. We appreciate the
efforts of the House and Senate members and their continued strong
support of NASA. America must continue to be the leader in space
exploration as we transition to a new and exciting mission for the
American people."

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home <http://www.nasa.gov/home>

=========
(3) GEORGE E. BROWN, JR. NEAR-EARTH OBJECT SURVEY ACT
 
The Library of Congress
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c109:7:./temp/~c109GTQ4ic:e83282 <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c109:7:./temp/~c109GTQ4ic:e83282> :
 
S.1281
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2005
(Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by House)
 
Subtitle C--George E . Brown , Jr. Near-Earth Object Survey
 
SEC. 321. GEORGE E . BROWN , JR. NEAR-EARTH OBJECT SURVEY.
 
(a) Short Title- This section may be cited as the `George E . Brown , Jr. Near-Earth Object
Survey Act'.
 
(b) Findings- The Congress makes the following findings:
 
(1) Near-Earth objects pose a serious and credible threat to humankind, as many scientists
believe that a major asteroid or comet was responsible for the mass extinction of the majority
of the Earth's species, including the dinosaurs, nearly 65,000,000 years ago.
 
(2) Similar objects have struck the Earth or passed through the Earth's atmosphere several
times in the Earth's history and pose a similar threat in the future.
 
(3) Several such near-Earth objects have only been discovered within days of the objects'
closest approach to Earth, and recent discoveries of such large objects indicate that many
large near-Earth objects remain undiscovered.
 
(4) The efforts taken to date by NASA for detecting and characterizing the hazards of
near-Earth objects are not sufficient to fully determine the threat posed by such objects
to cause widespread destruction and loss of life.
 
(c) Definitions- For purposes of this section the term `near-Earth object' means an
asteroid or comet with a perihelion distance of less that 1.3 Astronomical Units from the Sun.
 
(d) Near-Earth Object Survey-

(1) SURVEY PROGRAM- The Administrator shall plan, develop, and implement a Near-Earth Object
Survey program to detect, track, catalogue, and characterize the physical characteristics of
near-Earth objects equal to or greater than 100 meters in diameter in order to assess the
threat of such near-Earth objects to the Earth. It shall be the goal of the Survey program
to achieve 90 percent completion of its near-Earth object catalogue (based on statistically
predicted populations of near-Earth objects) within 15 years after the date of enactment of
this Act.
 
(2) AMENDMENTS- Section 102 of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (42 U.S.C. 2451)
is amended--
 
(A) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (h);
 
(B) by inserting after subsection (f) the following new subsection:
 
`(g) The Congress declares that the general welfare and security of the United States require
that the unique competence of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration be directed to
detecting, tracking, cataloguing, and characterizing near-Earth asteroids and comets in order
to provide warning and mitigation of the potential hazard of such near-Earth objects to the
Earth.'; and
 
(C) in subsection (h), as so redesignated by subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, by striking
`and (f)' and inserting `(f), and (g)'.
 
(3) ANNUAL REPORT- The Administrator shall transmit to the Congress, not later than February
28 of each of the next 5 years beginning after the date of enactment of this Act, a report
that provides the following:
 
(A) A summary of all activities taken pursuant to paragraph (1) for the previous fiscal year.
 
(B) A summary of expenditures for all activities pursuant to paragraph (1) for the previous
fiscal year.
 
(4) INITIAL REPORT- The Administrator shall transmit to Congress not later than 1 year after
the date of enactment of this Act an initial report that provides the following:
 
(A) An analysis of possible alternatives that NASA may employ to carry out the Survey program,
including ground-based and space-based alternatives with technical descriptions.
 
(B) A recommended option and proposed budget to carry out the Survey program pursuant to
the recommended option.
 
(C) An analysis of possible alternatives that NASA could employ to divert an object on a likely
collision course with Earth
 
=======
(4) AND FINALLY: ASTEROID THREAT 'TO CEASE WITHIN 30 YEARS'

The Scotsman, 9 August 2004
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3318694

By John von Radowitz, Science Correspondent, PA News

Killer asteroids will essentially cease to be a threat within the next 30 years, a leading expert said today.

Scientists are discovering near-earth asteroids (NEAs) so fast that the chances of one hitting the Earth with no warning is likely to become minute, said Dr Benny Peiser.

Since 1995 the number of known NEAs had shot up from just 300 to 3,000.

By 2008, it was expected that 90% of the estimated 1,000 to 1,200 asteroids big enough to wipe out civilisation would be found, said Dr Peiser, one of the world's leading asteroid experts from Liverpool John Moores University.

The rest of these space rocks, measuring more than a kilometre across, would probably be detected within the next 20 years.

Two powerful new telescopes due to start operating in the next few years would find as many asteroids each month as have been discovered in the last decade, said Dr Peiser.

"Within the next one or two generations we will no longer have asteroid impact disaster movies," he said at a science briefing in London.

"The good news is we have now developed not just the knowledge about the threat we face but also potentially the technology with which to deal with it."

Future discoveries and space missions would provide information about how to deflect an asteroid on collision course with the Earth.

Within 20 to 30 years, search systems would exist with the ability to detect 90% of all NEAs larger than 150 metres across.

Dr Peiser said if an asteroid did hit the Earth it would be most likely to strike an uninhabited region or an ocean.

Copyright 2004, PA

------------
CCNet is a scholarly electronic network edited by Benny Peiser. To subscribe or unsubscribe,
send an e-mail to: listserver_at_livjm.ac.uk ("subscribe cambridge-conference"/"unsubscribe
cambridge-conference") or contact the editor at b.j.peiser_at_livjm.ac.uk.
(http://www.staff.livjm.ac.uk/spsbpeis). Information circulated on this network is for
scholarly and educational use only. The attached information may not be copied or reproduced
for any other purposes without prior permission of the copyright holders.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the articles and texts and in
other CCNet contributions do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of
the editor.

• Previous message: LARRY KLAES: "SETI public: Two papers on exoworlds"

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.6 : Sun Dec 25 2005 - 17:00:24 PST