[meteorite-list] B612 Press Conference on Protecting Earth from Asteroid Impacts

[Ron Baalke]

http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=42977

B612 Press Conference on Protecting Earth from Asteroid Impacts
B612 Foundation Press Release
April 4, 2014

The B612 Foundation will hold a press conference at the Seattle Museum 
of Flight to release new video of data from a nuclear-test-ban-treaty 
organization showing multiple atomic-bomb-scale asteroid impacts on Earth 
since 2001.

Date: Tuesday, April 22 (Earth Day 2014)
Time: 11:30 am PDT / 2:30 pm EDT / 18:30 UTC
Location: Museum of Flight, 9404 East Marginal Way S., Seattle, WA 98108
Live Stream: http://www.b612foundation.org

Speakers:
* US Shuttle, ISS, and Soyuz Astronaut Dr. Ed Lu, Co-founder & CEO, B612 
Foundation
* US Shuttle Astronaut Tom Jones, President, Association of Space Explorers
* Apollo 8 Astronaut Bill Anders
* Hosted by Doug King, President, Seattle Museum of Flight

In a special Earth Day program on April 22, Seattle's Museum of Flight 
will host three prominent US astronauts supporting the B612 Foundation 
for a press conference to unveil a new video showing the surprising number 
of asteroid impacts on Earth during the last decade, and the even more 
surprising fact that we can prevent future asteroid impacts.

"The visualization shows data from the nuclear weapons test warning network, 
supplied by Peter Brown, Western University of Canada. This network has 
detected 26 multi-kiloton explosions since 2001, all of which are due 
to asteroid impacts, explained Dr. Lu, CEO, B612 Foundation. "It shows 
that asteroid impacts are NOT rare -- but actually 3-10 times more common 
than we previously thought. The fact that none of these asteroid impacts 
shown in the video was detected in advance, is proof that the only thing 
preventing a catastrophe from a 'city-killer' sized asteroid is blind 
luck. The goal of the B612 Sentinel mission is to find and track asteroids 
decades before they hit Earth, allowing us to easily deflect them."

The B612 Foundation is partnered with Ball Aerospace to build the Sentinel 
Infrared Space Telescope Mission. From a Venus-like orbit around the Sun, 
Sentinel will be the most capable system for finding and tracking asteroids 
ever built.

During the press conference, Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders will unveil 
a new mural that highlights the importance of the Sentinel mission. His 
Earthrise photo shows the Earth rising above the crater-strewn surface 
of the Moon, and will remain on display at the Seattle Museum of Flight. 
"We began Apollo 8 thinking we were going to learn about the Moon, instead, 
we began a new understanding of our Earth." The Earthrise photo will serve 
as the backdrop for the morning press conference.

Tom Jones, four-time US shuttle astronaut and President of the Association 
of Space Explorers, will explain the recent UN resolution calling for 
international cooperation for detection of dangerous asteroids.

The press conference is open to all accredited media. Astronauts Ed Lu, 
Tom Jones, and Bill Anders will also be available for 1-1 interviews and 
additional photos immediately before and following the press conference. 
Please schedule with Diane Murphy (diane at b612foundation.org)

The video showing the new findings of asteroid impacts will be posted 
at http://www.b612foundation.org immediately following the press conference.

Astronaut Speakers:
Edward Lu -- US NASA astronaut who flew three space missions including 
a stint of six months on the International Space Station, currently serves 
as CEO, B612 Foundation. He previously led the Advanced Projects group 
at Google, where his teams developed imaging technology for Google Earth/Maps, 
Google Street View, and energy information products including Google PowerMeter. 
He is the co-inventor of the Gravity Tractor, a spacecraft able to controllably 
alter the orbit of an asteroid. He has published scientific articles on 
high-energy astrophysics, solar physics, plasma physics, cosmology, and 
statistical physics.

Thomas Jones -- US NASA astronaut who flew four space shuttle missions, 
currently serves as senior research scientist at the Florida Institute 
for Human and Machine Cognition and chairman of the Association of Space 
Explorers NEO Committee.

Bill Anders -- USAF pilot and astronaut who flew on Apollo 8, the first 
mission to orbit the Moon, Anders has held numerous high level positions 
in government, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and in the 
private sector, held executive positions at GE, Textron, and General Dynamics. 
He currently leads the Anders Foundation. The Anders Crater on the Moon 
is named in his honor.

Contacts:
Diane Murphy
B612 Foundation
+1.310.372.9867, cell: +1.202.361.9681
diane at b612foundation.org

Ted Huetter
Museum of Flight
thuetter at museumofflight.org

The B612 Foundation (http://www.b612foundation.org) aims to build, launch, 
and operate Sentinel Space Telescope Mission, the world's first privately 
funded deep space mission that will create the first comprehensive dynamic 
map of our inner solar system, identifying the current and future locations 
and trajectories of Earth crossing asteroids. The B612 Foundation is named 
for the asteroid home of the "Little Prince' in the Antoine Saint-Exupery 
classic novel. The Little Prince came to realize that what is essential 
in life, is often invisible to the human eye.