Folks - some interesting tid-bits in this press release plus a great link for anyone wanting to research this subject in a little more detail...
Cheers
Dave
1st IAA Planetary Defense Conference:
Protecting Earth from Asteroids
27 - 30 April 2009
Granada, Spain
The International Academy of Astronautics will hold its first conference on protecting our planet from impacts by asteroids and comets the week of April 27, 2009 in Granada, Spain. The 1st IAA Planetary Defense Conference:
Protecting Earth from Asteroids, co-sponsored by the European Space Agency, is the follow-on to two previous planetary defense conferences held in 2004 in Los Angeles and 2007 in Washington, D.C. Details on the 2004 and 2007 conferences are at
www.planetarydefense.info
The 2009 meeting will gather worldwide experts on detecting and tracking objects that might be hazardous to our planet together with those who work on detailed characterisation of these objects, those working on deflecting a threatening object should one be detected and those with an interest in the nature of impact disasters as well as covering political, legal and policy issues that must be considered as part of an overall mitigation strategy.
A particular focus of the conference will be the foreseen encounter with Apophis, a 300-meter asteroid that is predicted to pass within 40,000 km of Earth in 2029 and has a current probability of impacting our planet in 2036 of 1 in 45000.
The conference will also be aimed at promoting multidisciplinary work on the subject in the years to come. Special emphasis will be given to involving students and young researchers from diffent fields, who could find on this topic -a better understanding on NEO and the risk they could
involve- a point of encounter.
At present, there are about 900 asteroids and comets that are designated Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHOs), objects that could eventually threaten Earth. Ground-based observations are increasing this number by more than 600 per year. Experts believe that there could be as many as 20,000 PHO objects larger than 140 meters.
The most recent significant impact occurred in Siberia, Russia, in 1908 when an object estimated to be between 30 and 50 meters in diameter entered the atmosphere and exploded. The blast levelled and ignited over 2000 square kilometres of forest.
Researchers have discovered evidence that a larger object exploded over Canada 18,900 years ago and that this event caused massive fires in North America that caused a 10-degree drop in the average temperature in the Northern Hemisphere for 1000 years.
Asteroids and comets are among our closest neighbours, they form part of our nearest environment in the Solar System. However we still have a great deal to learn about them. We have now some of the technologies that might be needed to prevent these objects from hitting the Earth, but what would actually be required to be sure a threatening object can be tackled? And will we see it coming? The conference will help answer these questions.
  