posted 03-09-2011 11:13 PM              

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There is an excellent article in the Feb. 28, 2011 issue of the New Yorker magazine about the NEO threat and what NASA and Schweickart's B-612 Foundation are doing to address it. It also touches on early plans for human missions to NEOs (including how to deflect Earth-threatening ones).

Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall but you can read an excerpt. It's well-written and has a great quote from Alan Bean as well that I can't repeat here (it's a memorable one).

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From: Delray Beach Florida USA
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Posts: 441
From: San Jose, California, USA
Registered: Mar 2002

posted 03-11-2011 10:54 AM               

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I've had the good fortune to see Rusty's NEO presentation twice, thanks to notices I've seen in cS Sightings. Its a great talk. It was quite funny to hear all the gasps from the audience when he shows the Earth-crossing orbit animation.

The relatively small investment he thinks would be needed for a deflection capability seems to me to be well worth considering.