[meteorite-list] NASA Hosts Workshop to Discuss Asteroid Initiative Ideas

[Ron Baalke]

September 24, 2013

Sarah Ramsey/Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1694 / 202-358-5227
sarah.ramsey at nasa.gov / rachel.h.kraft at nasa.gov 
     
MEDIA ADVISORY M13-155
     
NASA Hosts Workshop to Discuss Asteroid Initiative Ideas

NASA will host a public workshop to examine and synthesize 96 of the ideas  
submitted to a Request for Information (RFI) about the agency's asteroid  
initiative. The workshop will be held Sept. 30 - Oct. 2 at the Lunar and  
Planetary Institute in Houston.

The workshop will feature discussions by experts from NASA, the agency's  
international partners, private industry and the public. Topics include how  
best to identify, capture and relocate a near-Earth asteroid for closer  
study, how to respond to asteroid threats, as well as partnership,  
crowdsourcing and citizen science ideas. Workshop results will be considered  
for future planning as NASA refines the details of its mission.

NASA's fiscal year 2014 budget proposes an asteroid initiative that includes  
a strategy to leverage human and robotic activities for a first-ever human  
mission to an asteroid, while also accelerating efforts to improve detection  
and characterization of asteroids. The work aligns the agency's ongoing  
efforts in science, new technology development and human exploration.

NASA received more than 400 ideas in response to the June RFI. The ideas were  
submitted by industry, universities, international organizations, and for the  
first time, individual members of the public. NASA's selection process  
involved agency scientists, engineers and mission planners who are  
formulating details of the asteroid initiative.

Each session will be webcast on NASA's UStream channel, and virtual  
participation is encouraged. Because of limited capacity, in-person  
attendance is limited to invited, registered presenters. Selected sessions  
also will be broadcast on NASA Television. Virtual audience members can ask  
questions through the UStream chat function and via Twitter with  
session-specific hashtags. Complete schedule information, live webcasts,  
hashtags, and other details on how to participate virtually can be found at:

http://go.nasa.gov/1gW1MId 

Media interested in attending the workshop in person should contact Rachel  
Kraft at rachel.h.kraft at nasa.gov or Sarah Ramsey at sarah.ramsey at nasa.gov .  

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv 

For more information on NASA's asteroid initiative, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiative 

-end-