Planetary Defense. Department of Defense Cost for the Detection, Exploration, and Rendezvous Mission of Near-Earth Objects

摘要

Earth is on a collision course. Micrometeorites regularly streak into the atmosphere causing little more than a fiery flash. However, larger near-Earth objects (NEO) can have a more dramatic effect on the Earth. Recently scientists presented evidence in which an asteroid, at least a mile in diameter, hit the ocean 35 million years ago southeast of what is now Washington, D.C., shaping the Chesapeake Bay. Today such an impact would cause devastation on a global scale. The mitigation of such a natural disaster necessitates an international planetary defense. This article provides a background of the threat of NEO-Earth impacts and addresses planetary defense taskings and Department of Defense (DOD) costs for the next 20 years as part of an international effort to detect and learn more about NEOs.