[meteorite-list] NASA Teams with Web Tech Company Slooh to Bring Universe to Everyone and Help Protect Earth Too

[Ron Baalke]

May 22, 2014
     
NASA Teams with Web Tech Company Slooh to Bring Universe to Everyone and 
Help Protect Earth Too

As part of the agency's Asteroid Grand Challenge, NASA is partnering with 
private internet technology company Slooh to engage citizen scientists in the 
effort to track and characterize near-Earth asteroids (NEOs) that are 
potentially hazardous to human populations.

Slooh's global network of web-connected telescopes will be available for 
use by amateur astronomers for monitoring and characterizing NEOs. Citizen 
scientists without access to professional equipment will have the opportunity 
to be a part of the global challenge to find hazardous NEOs. NASA also is 
partnering with Slooh on live astronomy events.

"We are excited by the opportunity to tap into Slooh's network of amateur 
astronomers, who are already producing scientific papers with their work," 
said Jason Kessler, program executive for the Asteroid Grand Challenge. "We 
look forward to expanding the meaningful science the Slooh network can 
provide in support of the grand challenge."

The live astronomy events on which NASA and Slooh will partner include the 
LINEAR comet meteor shower, occurring Friday, May 23, and Saturday, May 24. 
Slooh will provide live feeds of the event from 6 p.m. EDT Friday to 3 a.m. 
Saturday on the company's website and the UStream feed for NASA's Marshall 
Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, at:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc 

Live astronomy events through the NASA and Slooh platforms increase the 
number of people who can watch and actively participate in science as it 
happens. Future events will include NASA experts offering commentary on live 
events. Slooh plans to provide NASA with relevant observation data from these 
events, which may be used for grand challenge citizen science efforts.

"This partnership is a great validation of our approach to engage the 
public in the exploration of space,' says Michael Paolucci, founder and CEO 
of Slooh. "NASA understands the importance of citizen science and knows a 
good way to get amateur astronomers involved is to offer them ways to do 
productive astronomy. Slooh does that by giving them remote access to great 
telescopes situated at leading observatory sites around the world."

The Asteroid Grand Challenge is built on such collaborative efforts. The 
partnership with Slooh augments grand challenge partnerships with SpaceGambit 
and Planetary Resources Inc., and extending the search from existing data to 
direct observation through telescopes.

Through NASA's asteroid initiative, the agency seeks to enhance its ongoing 
work in the identification and characterization of near-Earth objects for 
further scientific investigation. This work includes locating potentially 
hazardous asteroids and identifying those viable for redirection to a stable 
lunar orbit for future exploration by astronauts. The Asteroid Grand 
Challenge, one part of the asteroid initiative, expands the agency's efforts 
beyond traditional boundaries and encourages partnerships and collaboration 
with a variety of organizations.

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

http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiative 

-end-

Sonja Alexander/Sarah Ramsey
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1761/1694
sonja.r.alexander at nasa.gov / sarah.ramsey at nasa.gov 

Janet Anderson
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
janet.l.anderson at nasa.gov