US Congress triples NASA's budget for Near Earth Object Survey - what about Australia?

Australian members of The Planetary Society have called on the
Australian Government to re-commence the search for Earth-threatening
asteroids and comets. Society member Michael Paine said that Australia
should follow the example of the US Congress which has just tripled
NASA's allocation for the detection of Near Earth Objects (asteroids and
comets). In May 1998 a congressional committee heard testimony from
scientists about the hazard of asteroids and comets colliding with the
Earth. This was a factor in the decision by Congress to increase funding
from US$3.5 million per year to US$10.5 million per year. Although this
one of the first steps in a complicated US budget process this
authorization is a clear statement of interest from Congress in pursuing
the Spaceguard Survey.

Between 1990 and 1996 Australia was involved in a highly successful
search for Earth-threatening asteroids and comets. In 1996  Australian
Government funds were cut and the project closed down. The cessation of
the Australian component of "Spaceguard" has caused a major deficiency
in the ability to identify and predict these threats. Much of the
increasing Northern Hemisphere effort could be wasted if an
object is no longer able to be tracked because it moves into southern
skies. This criticism was raised in the US Congressional hearing:
"Australia, has actually backed away from its fledgling telescopic
program, which -- until the past couple of years -- played a fundamental
role by following-up on NEO's discovered elsewhere from its special
location in the southern hemisphere. International attempts to encourage
the Australian government to bring the telescopic program back into
operation have been to no avail." (Testimony of Clark Chapman)

The importance of Southern Hemisphere observations was recently
demonstrated. In January 1999 US observers detected a new "earth
crossing" asteroid - 1999 AN10. Subsequent observations by
Australian-based amateur NEO searcher Frank Zoltowski caused the Minor
Planet Centre to review the predicted orbit of the asteroid. On 7 August
2027 the 1km diameter asteroid could miss the Earth by as little as
37,000km or 3 Earth diameters.  Its orbit cannot be reliably predicted
after such a close approach but, in an interview with MSNBC, Don
Yeomans, head of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL, said
that asteroid 1999 AN10 has a 1-in-500,000 chance of hitting the Earth
in 2044 (for comparison, there is an estimated a 1-in-100,000 chance
that an undiscovered asteroid one kilometer or larger in diameter will
strike the Earth in a given year). Due to its unusual orbit around the
Sun it is likely to remain a threat for hundreds of years.

END
Contact:
Michael Paine,
New South Wales Coordinator,
The Planetary Society Australian Volunteers
Phone Sydney  02 9451 4870   Fax 02 9975 3966 Mobile 04-1816-5741
For numerous links, including NASA's budget see
http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/tps-seti/spacegd.html

(Australian) Coordination Committee on Science and Technology

            Current Activities (Financial Year 1998-99)

• The role and terms of reference for CCST and its forward work plan
• Interactions between industry and universities - its extent and ways of enhancing it
• Coordination of Commonwealth policy and funding for major             research facilities
• Developments in the proposed World Intellectual Property
• Organisation database treaty
• OECD Megascience projects - in particular the Square                  Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope and the Global
• Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• Biotechnology opportunities and the role of government
• Matters arising from multilateral international forums for  science and technology (APEC, OECD, UNESCO)
• Near Earth Asteroids!
• Possible topics for PMSEIC agendas