1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:02,936 (bold music) 2 00:00:11,378 --> 00:00:12,579 - Take a look, 3 00:00:12,579 --> 00:00:15,048 this is an asteroid observed during 4 00:00:15,048 --> 00:00:17,017 a close approach to Earth, 5 00:00:17,017 --> 00:00:19,486 taken just a few weeks ago using radar. 6 00:00:19,486 --> 00:00:23,656 Asteroid 2014 JO25, came within 1.2 million miles of Earth. 7 00:00:26,593 --> 00:00:30,230 It was a kilometer, or 2/3 of a mile wide, 8 00:00:30,230 --> 00:00:32,665 the largest to come so close to our planet 9 00:00:32,665 --> 00:00:34,401 in the past 13 years. 10 00:00:35,835 --> 00:00:38,805 Hello, I'm Gay Yee Hill, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory 11 00:00:38,805 --> 00:00:40,206 in Pasadena, California. 12 00:00:40,206 --> 00:00:42,542 NASA takes planetary defense, 13 00:00:42,542 --> 00:00:46,479 and the hunt for asteroids and comets very seriously. 14 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:50,150 NASA-funded projects account for over 90% 15 00:00:50,150 --> 00:00:52,852 of worldwide efforts to find, 16 00:00:52,852 --> 00:00:56,423 track, and characterize near Earth objects, 17 00:00:56,423 --> 00:00:58,792 that get too close for comfort. 18 00:00:58,792 --> 00:01:02,195 Tiny asteroids hit our atmosphere all the time, 19 00:01:02,195 --> 00:01:04,230 producing meteors or fireballs. 20 00:01:04,230 --> 00:01:08,001 This chart shows the hundreds of significant fireballs 21 00:01:08,001 --> 00:01:13,006 detected by US government sensors from 1988 until now. 22 00:01:13,006 --> 00:01:17,177 It doesn't happen often, but bigger asteroids hit Earth too, 23 00:01:17,177 --> 00:01:19,446 it happened a few years ago. 24 00:01:19,446 --> 00:01:23,283 A 20-meter asteroid exploded in the atmosphere 25 00:01:24,651 --> 00:01:26,386 above Chelyabinsk, Russia. 26 00:01:26,386 --> 00:01:29,422 So, it's important to be on the lookout. 27 00:01:29,422 --> 00:01:33,026 To start things off, let's give you a simplified explanation 28 00:01:33,026 --> 00:01:35,595 of how we hunt for space rocks. 29 00:01:36,996 --> 00:01:40,033 - [Narrator] How do we spot near Earth asteroids? 30 00:01:40,033 --> 00:01:44,104 To start, survey telescopes scan the sky. 31 00:01:44,104 --> 00:01:46,439 When multiple pictures of the same spot 32 00:01:46,439 --> 00:01:50,176 show a speck that's moving, computers automatically check it 33 00:01:50,176 --> 00:01:53,613 against a database of known objects. 34 00:01:53,613 --> 00:01:55,048 If there's no match, 35 00:01:55,048 --> 00:01:58,985 it gets added to a list of objects to confirm. 36 00:01:58,985 --> 00:02:01,287 And if it looks like it'll pass very close to us, 37 00:02:01,287 --> 00:02:03,923 we give it top priority. 38 00:02:03,923 --> 00:02:07,327 Then it's time to call in reinforcements. 39 00:02:08,728 --> 00:02:11,297 More astronomers from NASA, other institutions, 40 00:02:11,297 --> 00:02:13,433 and even the amateur community, 41 00:02:13,433 --> 00:02:15,802 submit additional observations. 42 00:02:15,802 --> 00:02:17,403 Each new data point 43 00:02:17,403 --> 00:02:18,872 helps refine the projected path, 44 00:02:18,872 --> 00:02:19,806 and this asteroid 45 00:02:19,806 --> 00:02:22,509 is gonna fly right on by. 46 00:02:22,509 --> 00:02:24,978 All the info will be posted online, 47 00:02:24,978 --> 00:02:28,748 so it can continue to be tracked and monitored. 48 00:02:28,748 --> 00:02:30,483 Nice work planetary defense team. 49 00:02:30,483 --> 00:02:32,485 Keep watching the skies. 50 00:02:36,789 --> 00:02:41,628 - Now NASA is directed by Congress to find 90% of asteroids 51 00:02:41,628 --> 00:02:45,632 460 feet, that's 140 meters, or greater in size. 52 00:02:47,433 --> 00:02:49,903 NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office 53 00:02:49,903 --> 00:02:52,438 is responsible for finding, tracking, 54 00:02:52,438 --> 00:02:54,974 and characterizing potentially hazardous 55 00:02:54,974 --> 00:02:58,144 asteroids and comets coming near Earth. 56 00:02:58,144 --> 00:03:01,581 Lindley Johnson is the agency's Planetary Defense Officer, 57 00:03:01,581 --> 00:03:03,816 and Kelly Fast is the Manager of the 58 00:03:03,816 --> 00:03:06,920 Near Earth Object Observations Program. 59 00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:08,288 They join us now, 60 00:03:08,288 --> 00:03:10,757 live from NASA Headquarters in Washington DC, 61 00:03:10,757 --> 00:03:14,594 where all NASA planetary defense efforts are managed. 62 00:03:14,594 --> 00:03:16,329 Hi Lindley, hi Kelly, 63 00:03:17,497 --> 00:03:19,165 Let's start out with a question-- 64 00:03:19,165 --> 00:03:20,633 - Hi. - Hi. 65 00:03:20,633 --> 00:03:22,969 - Let's start off with a question for Lindley. 66 00:03:22,969 --> 00:03:26,339 What exactly is NASA doing to protect Earth 67 00:03:26,339 --> 00:03:29,342 from dangerous asteroids and comets? 68 00:03:31,511 --> 00:03:33,813 - Well Gay, that's the whole purpose behind 69 00:03:33,813 --> 00:03:36,249 our Planetary Defense Coordination Office, 70 00:03:36,249 --> 00:03:38,017 is to oversee the efforts of NASA 71 00:03:38,017 --> 00:03:41,354 in our observatories that are finding, 72 00:03:41,354 --> 00:03:44,257 tracking, and characterizing near Earth objects. 73 00:03:44,257 --> 00:03:47,393 And to work with other government agencies 74 00:03:47,393 --> 00:03:51,464 to develop a response if we happen to find one that is 75 00:03:51,464 --> 00:03:55,235 on an impact trajectory with the Earth. 76 00:03:55,235 --> 00:03:58,504 We work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency 77 00:03:58,504 --> 00:04:02,609 and other government agencies to develop the plans 78 00:04:02,609 --> 00:04:04,644 and the strategies that would be used 79 00:04:04,644 --> 00:04:07,480 to respond to a detected impactor. 80 00:04:09,582 --> 00:04:12,485 But the most important part of our business 81 00:04:12,485 --> 00:04:15,555 is to find them, we have to find them 82 00:04:15,555 --> 00:04:17,190 to be able to do anything about them. 83 00:04:17,190 --> 00:04:20,059 So our main priority is to find them 84 00:04:20,059 --> 00:04:21,628 as early as we can and that's what 85 00:04:21,628 --> 00:04:24,230 the near Earth Object Observations Program is all about. 86 00:04:24,230 --> 00:04:26,466 - All right, so question for Kelly. 87 00:04:26,466 --> 00:04:28,468 How are we finding them? 88 00:04:32,171 --> 00:04:35,375 - Well Gay, NASA funds observatories to survey 89 00:04:35,375 --> 00:04:38,511 the skies each clear night to try to find 90 00:04:38,511 --> 00:04:40,780 these near Earth objects, to discover them. 91 00:04:40,780 --> 00:04:43,616 And then we also fund a number of astronomers 92 00:04:43,616 --> 00:04:47,153 to follow up those discoveries to try to get 93 00:04:47,153 --> 00:04:49,656 more observations of the positions of those objects 94 00:04:49,656 --> 00:04:51,724 to better understand how they're moving. 95 00:04:51,724 --> 00:04:54,360 Now all of those observations from the people we fund 96 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,362 and anybody observing around the world 97 00:04:56,362 --> 00:05:00,166 go to the Minor Planets Center where they catalog 98 00:05:00,166 --> 00:05:02,635 and keep all those observations, 99 00:05:02,635 --> 00:05:05,872 but also they do a calculation of the orbit 100 00:05:05,872 --> 00:05:08,207 based on how those objects are moving 101 00:05:08,207 --> 00:05:11,511 to try to figure out where it's going to be in the future 102 00:05:11,511 --> 00:05:14,847 and if there is a near-term impact risk to Earth 103 00:05:14,847 --> 00:05:17,216 they will let NASA know about it. 104 00:05:17,216 --> 00:05:20,053 Now also, JPL's Center for near Earth Object Studies, 105 00:05:20,053 --> 00:05:23,222 they also take those positions, those observations 106 00:05:23,222 --> 00:05:25,525 and they do precision orbit calculation, 107 00:05:25,525 --> 00:05:27,660 looking at where those asteroids will be 108 00:05:27,660 --> 00:05:30,730 in the near term but also into the future, 109 00:05:30,730 --> 00:05:32,432 decades into the future. 110 00:05:32,432 --> 00:05:35,601 Because if there was something that posed an impact risk, 111 00:05:35,601 --> 00:05:38,338 you'd wanna know about it well ahead of time 112 00:05:38,338 --> 00:05:40,239 so that you could plan your response to it. 113 00:05:40,239 --> 00:05:43,976 - And Kelly, are we alone in this whole process? 114 00:05:43,976 --> 00:05:46,979 Are other countries involved at all? 115 00:05:48,381 --> 00:05:51,084 - Oh yeah, there are other countries involved and in fact, 116 00:05:51,084 --> 00:05:54,320 there is an International Asteroid Warning Network 117 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:56,089 that is a UN-sanctioned group 118 00:05:56,089 --> 00:05:58,624 and NASA is a signatory to that group. 119 00:05:58,624 --> 00:06:02,061 And it's a group involving space agencies, 120 00:06:02,061 --> 00:06:05,198 national institutes, and observatories 121 00:06:05,198 --> 00:06:08,768 that coordinate on the search, the discovery, 122 00:06:08,768 --> 00:06:12,772 follow up, characterization, and orbit determination 123 00:06:12,772 --> 00:06:16,943 for these objects so that we have all the information 124 00:06:16,943 --> 00:06:21,180 that's possible out there contributing to the task. 125 00:06:21,180 --> 00:06:24,117 And so yes there is significant international participation. 126 00:06:24,117 --> 00:06:26,185 - Lindley, one more question. 127 00:06:26,185 --> 00:06:28,888 If there is a dangerous asteroid 128 00:06:28,888 --> 00:06:31,624 and it's on a collision course with Earth, 129 00:06:31,624 --> 00:06:34,560 can we really do anything about it? 130 00:06:36,829 --> 00:06:38,798 - Well, that would depend on how big it is 131 00:06:38,798 --> 00:06:42,635 and how much time we have before the predicted impact. 132 00:06:42,635 --> 00:06:45,805 We would assess the size of the object 133 00:06:46,973 --> 00:06:49,375 and try to determine what the mass is, 134 00:06:49,375 --> 00:06:51,944 and that would determine what techniques 135 00:06:51,944 --> 00:06:54,747 might be able to be used on it. 136 00:06:54,747 --> 00:06:56,482 And we have, as part of our program, 137 00:06:56,482 --> 00:06:59,285 developing those kind of capabilities. 138 00:06:59,285 --> 00:07:01,788 But it all depends on how much time we have. 139 00:07:01,788 --> 00:07:03,656 If we only have days or weeks, 140 00:07:03,656 --> 00:07:05,591 that's not enough time to mount a space mission 141 00:07:05,591 --> 00:07:09,095 to deflect it in space, and so we would just have to 142 00:07:09,095 --> 00:07:12,465 prepare with FEMA to take the impact, 143 00:07:12,465 --> 00:07:14,333 if it was on US territory. 144 00:07:14,333 --> 00:07:17,570 So the key to our program is to find em early. 145 00:07:17,570 --> 00:07:21,107 - Alright, so we have just a few more minutes, 146 00:07:21,107 --> 00:07:22,341 and I'd like to take some time 147 00:07:22,341 --> 00:07:24,243 for a couple of social media questions. 148 00:07:24,243 --> 00:07:26,479 I have one for Lindley first, 149 00:07:26,479 --> 00:07:29,515 David and others on Twitter are asking, 150 00:07:29,515 --> 00:07:31,584 are there any near Earth objects 151 00:07:31,584 --> 00:07:33,920 that post a danger to Earth? 152 00:07:35,988 --> 00:07:38,424 - Well of the catalog that we have now, 153 00:07:38,424 --> 00:07:40,860 over 16,000 near Earth objects, 154 00:07:40,860 --> 00:07:43,396 there's none that have any significant probability 155 00:07:43,396 --> 00:07:44,897 of impacting the Earth. 156 00:07:44,897 --> 00:07:46,966 Yes, there are objects that will come near the Earth, 157 00:07:46,966 --> 00:07:49,869 but our already determined folks out there, 158 00:07:49,869 --> 00:07:51,871 JPL as a matter of fact, 159 00:07:53,206 --> 00:07:56,008 have shown that the probability of any of those 160 00:07:56,008 --> 00:07:57,176 is really low. 161 00:07:58,311 --> 00:08:01,147 So there is no immediate threat to the Earth 162 00:08:01,147 --> 00:08:04,083 being impacted by the objects that we know about. 163 00:08:04,083 --> 00:08:06,152 But we have a lot more of em to find. 164 00:08:06,152 --> 00:08:08,888 - Alright, here's another one, this one's for Kelly. 165 00:08:08,888 --> 00:08:11,090 Lisa on Twitter wants to know, 166 00:08:11,090 --> 00:08:14,026 if there was an asteroid headed for Earth, 167 00:08:14,026 --> 00:08:17,029 would we be told or would NASA keep it quiet? 168 00:08:17,029 --> 00:08:20,132 And Kahleed asks, would you Tweet it? 169 00:08:22,268 --> 00:08:26,339 - Oh absolutely the public would be told, 170 00:08:26,339 --> 00:08:28,841 in fact it wouldn't be possible to keep it quiet 171 00:08:28,841 --> 00:08:31,477 because we coordinate with astronomers 172 00:08:31,477 --> 00:08:33,412 all over the world, over the internet, 173 00:08:33,412 --> 00:08:36,682 and so the information would be out there. 174 00:08:36,682 --> 00:08:38,651 And also all of the observations, as we've said, 175 00:08:38,651 --> 00:08:39,952 go to the Minor Planet Center, 176 00:08:39,952 --> 00:08:41,554 and it's on their website, 177 00:08:41,554 --> 00:08:45,157 and then the predictions that are determined out at 178 00:08:45,157 --> 00:08:47,260 the Center for near Earth Objects Studies at JPL, 179 00:08:47,260 --> 00:08:48,461 it's on their website. 180 00:08:48,461 --> 00:08:49,896 So the information is out there, 181 00:08:49,896 --> 00:08:52,632 and we have a communication plan here too at NASA 182 00:08:52,632 --> 00:08:55,735 to communicate within our government 183 00:08:55,735 --> 00:08:57,436 and with other governments so, 184 00:08:57,436 --> 00:08:59,572 absolutely this would go out to the public 185 00:08:59,572 --> 00:09:01,774 and eventually it would end up on Twitter, too. 186 00:09:01,774 --> 00:09:04,944 - Alright, so Lindley, Kelly thank you so much, 187 00:09:04,944 --> 00:09:08,080 we will be checking with you again later on in the show. 188 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:10,116 And you can find out more about 189 00:09:10,116 --> 00:09:12,518 NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office 190 00:09:12,518 --> 00:09:16,589 by going to nasa.gov/planetarydefense. 191 00:09:17,924 --> 00:09:21,093 (upbeat techno music) 192 00:09:36,709 --> 00:09:40,980 As you hear earlier, NASA has to be on a constant lookout 193 00:09:40,980 --> 00:09:43,449 for potentially hazardous space rocks. 194 00:09:43,449 --> 00:09:45,985 The goal is to discover them early enough 195 00:09:45,985 --> 00:09:48,254 to be able to do something about them. 196 00:09:48,254 --> 00:09:50,456 On average, NASA sponsored projects 197 00:09:50,456 --> 00:09:53,759 spot about five near Earth objects a night, 198 00:09:53,759 --> 00:09:56,662 and fine tune the orbits of many more. 199 00:09:56,662 --> 00:09:59,198 NASA has adapted the NEOWISE Space Telescope 200 00:09:59,198 --> 00:10:00,666 to survey the skies, 201 00:10:00,666 --> 00:10:04,704 but the real workhorses are unique ground telescopes 202 00:10:04,704 --> 00:10:08,107 at the Catalina Sky Survey on Mount Lemmon, Arizona, 203 00:10:08,107 --> 00:10:10,443 and the Panoramic Survey Telescope 204 00:10:10,443 --> 00:10:14,113 And Rapid Response System, it's called Pan-STARRS, 205 00:10:14,113 --> 00:10:16,515 located on Haleakala, Hawaii. 206 00:10:21,587 --> 00:10:24,924 (dramatic guitar music) 207 00:10:37,069 --> 00:10:39,772 - Catalina Sky Survey and other survey programs, 208 00:10:39,772 --> 00:10:41,507 are really sort of the start of the whole 209 00:10:41,507 --> 00:10:44,510 planetary protection ecosystem. 210 00:10:44,510 --> 00:10:47,046 It starts with discovery, it goes onto followup, 211 00:10:47,046 --> 00:10:50,650 and characterization, impact risk analysis, 212 00:10:50,650 --> 00:10:53,886 mitigation studies, but you can't 213 00:10:53,886 --> 00:10:55,921 follow up, and you can't characterize, 214 00:10:55,921 --> 00:10:58,991 and you can't calculate the impact risk 215 00:10:58,991 --> 00:11:00,660 of something you don't discover. 216 00:11:00,660 --> 00:11:02,795 In order to find and near Earth asteroid, 217 00:11:02,795 --> 00:11:05,131 we take four images of a patch of sky, 218 00:11:05,131 --> 00:11:07,033 separated by about five minutes. 219 00:11:07,033 --> 00:11:08,367 - And we take those four images, 220 00:11:08,367 --> 00:11:09,935 and we blink them really fast, 221 00:11:09,935 --> 00:11:12,038 and it creates this little animation 222 00:11:12,038 --> 00:11:14,740 so we can see that the stars in the background 223 00:11:14,740 --> 00:11:16,442 are static, as they should be. 224 00:11:16,442 --> 00:11:19,045 And if there's anything that's moving, it'll pop out. 225 00:11:19,045 --> 00:11:21,280 - And our software compares those images, 226 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:23,349 and identifies things that are not moving, 227 00:11:23,349 --> 00:11:24,784 which are stars, and removes those. 228 00:11:24,784 --> 00:11:28,187 Identifies things are transient from frame to frame, 229 00:11:28,187 --> 00:11:30,923 and tries to link those up. 230 00:11:30,923 --> 00:11:33,826 (thoughtful music) 231 00:11:35,227 --> 00:11:37,830 - We've probably seen about a million asteroids 232 00:11:37,830 --> 00:11:41,367 in the last seven years that Pan-STARRS has been operating. 233 00:11:41,367 --> 00:11:44,403 It's like picking a needle out of a haystack. 234 00:11:44,403 --> 00:11:46,539 We're looking for distinctive motion, 235 00:11:46,539 --> 00:11:49,542 and when we see distinctive motion in asteroids, 236 00:11:49,542 --> 00:11:52,144 we report them to the Minor Planet Center. 237 00:11:52,144 --> 00:11:54,980 The Minor Planet Center is the sort of 238 00:11:54,980 --> 00:11:58,684 world clearing house for near Earth asteroids. 239 00:11:58,684 --> 00:12:03,389 - The Center for NEO Studies takes these observations 240 00:12:03,389 --> 00:12:05,825 from the Minor Planet Center and computes 241 00:12:05,825 --> 00:12:10,096 the high-precision orbits that we use to make predictions. 242 00:12:10,096 --> 00:12:12,431 CNEOS is also kind of an early warning system 243 00:12:12,431 --> 00:12:14,867 for newly discovered asteroids. 244 00:12:14,867 --> 00:12:18,404 We take the early data, and we compute whether or not 245 00:12:18,404 --> 00:12:20,406 that asteroid could hit the Earth. 246 00:12:20,406 --> 00:12:23,008 If there's a chance, we'll send out an early warning, 247 00:12:23,008 --> 00:12:24,977 an alert, for followup observations 248 00:12:24,977 --> 00:12:28,047 so that we can get more data and then we would know perhaps 249 00:12:28,047 --> 00:12:31,050 whether it can hit the Earth or not. 250 00:12:34,353 --> 00:12:35,921 - Asteroid impacts are a fact of life. 251 00:12:35,921 --> 00:12:37,857 The Earth has been impacted by asteroids 252 00:12:37,857 --> 00:12:39,759 continually through its history. 253 00:12:39,759 --> 00:12:44,029 - We saw in 2013 in Russia, a fairly small, 254 00:12:44,029 --> 00:12:46,132 by the standards of what we're finding, 255 00:12:46,132 --> 00:12:48,100 asteroid did hit the Earth. 256 00:12:48,100 --> 00:12:50,336 I feel a little bit like a guardian of the planet, 257 00:12:50,336 --> 00:12:52,772 I'm doing my bit to try and protect people. 258 00:12:52,772 --> 00:12:55,241 It is a long term process. 259 00:12:55,241 --> 00:12:57,243 It's going to take many, many years to find 260 00:12:57,243 --> 00:12:59,278 all of the dangerous asteroids. 261 00:12:59,278 --> 00:13:01,714 - The goal is to find near Earth asteroids 262 00:13:01,714 --> 00:13:03,382 before they find us. 263 00:13:12,191 --> 00:13:17,029 - Well tracking asteroids takes a worldwide effort. 264 00:13:17,029 --> 00:13:19,665 Here's a map of NASA-sponsored projects, 265 00:13:19,665 --> 00:13:21,567 but there's more to it than this. 266 00:13:21,567 --> 00:13:24,770 Add in all the observers, amateurs, 267 00:13:24,770 --> 00:13:27,640 and professionals all over the world and now 268 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:30,042 there are hundreds of additional eyes 269 00:13:30,042 --> 00:13:33,078 looking for asteroids all around the planet. 270 00:13:33,078 --> 00:13:36,215 These observers report their asteroid sightings 271 00:13:36,215 --> 00:13:38,951 to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 272 00:13:38,951 --> 00:13:42,288 That is a key player in planetary defense. 273 00:13:42,288 --> 00:13:44,824 The Minor Planet Center shares the information 274 00:13:44,824 --> 00:13:47,059 with astronomers worldwide about 275 00:13:47,059 --> 00:13:49,628 potentially hazardous objects. 276 00:13:49,628 --> 00:13:53,966 This allows for multiple observations of the same asteroid. 277 00:13:53,966 --> 00:13:57,136 Matt Holman is the director of the Minor Planet Center, 278 00:13:57,136 --> 00:14:00,072 and he joins us live now, hi Matt. 279 00:14:00,072 --> 00:14:01,073 - Hi Gay. 280 00:14:01,073 --> 00:14:02,741 - Alright so you told me earlier, 281 00:14:02,741 --> 00:14:05,744 this is all about following all the dots. 282 00:14:05,744 --> 00:14:09,148 So tell me exactly, what is the MPC? 283 00:14:09,148 --> 00:14:11,684 - The MPC, or the Minor Planet Center, 284 00:14:11,684 --> 00:14:15,154 is the world's clearinghouse for asteroid observations. 285 00:14:15,154 --> 00:14:18,257 We get observations of asteroids from hundreds, 286 00:14:18,257 --> 00:14:20,793 even thousands of different observatories, 287 00:14:20,793 --> 00:14:22,494 and we collect all those data together, 288 00:14:22,494 --> 00:14:25,197 distribute it to everyone who needs it, 289 00:14:25,197 --> 00:14:26,599 or anyone who's interested. 290 00:14:26,599 --> 00:14:29,301 But we're also busying ourselves trying to determine 291 00:14:29,301 --> 00:14:31,971 which of those asteroid observations correspond 292 00:14:31,971 --> 00:14:35,608 to something that urgently needs followup observations. 293 00:14:35,608 --> 00:14:37,042 - Well tell me why you even need 294 00:14:37,042 --> 00:14:40,145 a clearinghouse for all of these objects? 295 00:14:40,145 --> 00:14:42,147 Why is it necessary? 296 00:14:42,147 --> 00:14:43,682 - Well there's so many people involved, 297 00:14:43,682 --> 00:14:46,785 it really would not be efficient to have them 298 00:14:46,785 --> 00:14:49,321 try to distribute their data to each other. 299 00:14:49,321 --> 00:14:52,157 It's much more efficient if they just sent it all to us, 300 00:14:52,157 --> 00:14:56,095 then we can bring it together and we're trying to see if 301 00:14:56,095 --> 00:14:59,698 people have incidentally observed the same object, 302 00:14:59,698 --> 00:15:01,600 and you can then collate those data 303 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:03,969 and very quickly feed it back to them, 304 00:15:03,969 --> 00:15:05,371 to say okay, these are the things that need 305 00:15:05,371 --> 00:15:07,506 even more observations. 306 00:15:07,506 --> 00:15:09,942 - Alright, so it's a central contact 307 00:15:09,942 --> 00:15:11,510 so you work more efficiently. 308 00:15:11,510 --> 00:15:14,647 Can you go ahead and just walk me through the process? 309 00:15:14,647 --> 00:15:16,181 How does it all work? 310 00:15:16,181 --> 00:15:18,517 - Well on any given night, 311 00:15:18,517 --> 00:15:20,319 the Minor Planet Center receives 312 00:15:20,319 --> 00:15:24,757 something like 100,000 individual observations of asteroids. 313 00:15:24,757 --> 00:15:28,928 And we ask ourselves immediately this question constantly, 314 00:15:28,928 --> 00:15:32,865 which of these observations correspond to an object 315 00:15:32,865 --> 00:15:34,633 that we've seen before? 316 00:15:34,633 --> 00:15:36,468 And which of them correspond to something 317 00:15:36,468 --> 00:15:37,670 that's a new discovery, 318 00:15:37,670 --> 00:15:41,307 potentially a hazardous near Earth object? 319 00:15:41,307 --> 00:15:43,542 And believe it or not, 90% of the time, 320 00:15:43,542 --> 00:15:46,145 we know what those objects are, 321 00:15:46,145 --> 00:15:47,746 we've seen them before and we have 322 00:15:47,746 --> 00:15:49,748 very precisely determined orbits. 323 00:15:49,748 --> 00:15:51,984 We can take those 90% and set them aside, 324 00:15:51,984 --> 00:15:55,020 and focus our attention on the remaining 10% 325 00:15:55,020 --> 00:15:57,222 to try to determine if those are 326 00:15:57,222 --> 00:15:59,858 potentially hazardous near Earth objects, 327 00:15:59,858 --> 00:16:02,828 or a garden variety main belt asteroids. 328 00:16:02,828 --> 00:16:04,229 - So how do you tell the difference 329 00:16:04,229 --> 00:16:08,334 between the main belt asteroids, which are far, far away, 330 00:16:08,334 --> 00:16:11,570 and the ones that are actually kind of close? 331 00:16:11,570 --> 00:16:14,306 - Well as Richard Wainscoat kind of suggested, 332 00:16:14,306 --> 00:16:17,576 we use the pattern of motion on the sky. 333 00:16:17,576 --> 00:16:19,111 Let me give you an analogy, 334 00:16:19,111 --> 00:16:21,613 so imagine you're in a car and you're driving along the road 335 00:16:21,613 --> 00:16:23,082 and you look out the window, 336 00:16:23,082 --> 00:16:25,317 and you look at the fence posts. 337 00:16:25,317 --> 00:16:26,885 Those fence posts will appear to be moving 338 00:16:26,885 --> 00:16:28,153 very, very quickly. 339 00:16:28,153 --> 00:16:30,255 If you look at the trees behind the fence posts, 340 00:16:30,255 --> 00:16:32,858 they'll appear to be moving less quickly, 341 00:16:32,858 --> 00:16:34,660 and if you look at the mountains way in the background, 342 00:16:34,660 --> 00:16:36,762 they won't appear to be moving at all. 343 00:16:36,762 --> 00:16:38,664 In fact, none of those things are moving, 344 00:16:38,664 --> 00:16:40,065 it's the car that's moving, 345 00:16:40,065 --> 00:16:43,702 and the apparent rate of motion is a proxy for distance, 346 00:16:43,702 --> 00:16:45,471 the things that are close to you 347 00:16:45,471 --> 00:16:46,939 appear to be moving more quickly, 348 00:16:46,939 --> 00:16:48,974 and that's really what's going on with asteroids too. 349 00:16:48,974 --> 00:16:50,642 It's something we call paralax, 350 00:16:50,642 --> 00:16:53,746 so the set of dots that are really moving quickly 351 00:16:53,746 --> 00:16:56,415 along the sky, those are very likely to be things 352 00:16:56,415 --> 00:16:57,883 that are pretty close to the Earth, 353 00:16:57,883 --> 00:16:59,385 and that's what we concentrate on. 354 00:16:59,385 --> 00:17:01,987 - So if you find something that needs 355 00:17:01,987 --> 00:17:04,656 a little bit more double checking, 356 00:17:04,656 --> 00:17:07,192 how do you tell your observers? 357 00:17:07,192 --> 00:17:10,562 - Well we have something called the NEO Confirmation Page. 358 00:17:10,562 --> 00:17:12,998 It's a website that the Minor Planet Center 359 00:17:12,998 --> 00:17:15,834 is constantly updating, and so that's where 360 00:17:15,834 --> 00:17:19,738 we maintain a prioritized list of objects 361 00:17:19,738 --> 00:17:21,807 that need additional observations. 362 00:17:21,807 --> 00:17:24,043 - Well we learned a lot Matt, 363 00:17:24,043 --> 00:17:26,011 thank you so much for joining us. 364 00:17:26,011 --> 00:17:27,246 - My pleasure. 365 00:17:27,246 --> 00:17:29,081 - And if you would like to learn more, 366 00:17:29,081 --> 00:17:31,316 you can check out the Minor Planet Center, 367 00:17:31,316 --> 00:17:35,387 the website that is, it is minorplanetcenter.net. 368 00:17:39,525 --> 00:17:42,694 (upbeat techno music) 369 00:17:59,845 --> 00:18:02,648 October 6th, 2008, was a day 370 00:18:02,648 --> 00:18:06,819 when NASA's asteroid hunting team was put to the test. 371 00:18:06,819 --> 00:18:10,122 The Catalina Sky Survey team spotted an asteroid 372 00:18:10,122 --> 00:18:13,892 that eventually would hit Earth, just 19 hours 373 00:18:13,892 --> 00:18:17,129 before it was predicted to enter the atmosphere. 374 00:18:17,129 --> 00:18:19,832 The Near Earth Objects team and astronomers 375 00:18:19,832 --> 00:18:22,801 all over the world sprang into action. 376 00:18:22,801 --> 00:18:25,270 Their observations allowed us to figure out 377 00:18:25,270 --> 00:18:28,774 exactly where and when the object would hit. 378 00:18:28,774 --> 00:18:33,112 At only a few meters across, it posed no danger, 379 00:18:33,112 --> 00:18:35,013 it was small and posed no threat. 380 00:18:35,013 --> 00:18:38,750 On October 7th, 2008, with officials alerted, 381 00:18:38,750 --> 00:18:42,554 Asteroid TC3 plunged through our atmosphere 382 00:18:42,554 --> 00:18:46,725 and exploded 23 miles above the remote desert in the Sudan. 383 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,563 Hundreds of meteorites were later recovered. 384 00:18:51,563 --> 00:18:55,200 Now this was the first time an asteroid was spotted 385 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:57,636 and its location calculated prior to 386 00:18:57,636 --> 00:18:59,571 hitting Earth's atmosphere. 387 00:18:59,571 --> 00:19:00,839 The system worked. 388 00:19:00,839 --> 00:19:03,142 NASA's Center for near Earth Object Studies, 389 00:19:03,142 --> 00:19:06,812 here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, played a big role. 390 00:19:06,812 --> 00:19:09,815 The center computes high precision objects 391 00:19:09,815 --> 00:19:14,353 of near Earth objects and predicts the future path, 392 00:19:14,353 --> 00:19:15,687 and assesses whether or not 393 00:19:15,687 --> 00:19:17,789 they'll actually impact the Earth. 394 00:19:17,789 --> 00:19:20,359 Paul Chodas is the manager of CNEOS. 395 00:19:20,359 --> 00:19:22,694 What was that day like for TC3? 396 00:19:22,694 --> 00:19:24,463 - That was an exciting day, believe me. 397 00:19:24,463 --> 00:19:26,398 And it was all compressed into a single day, 398 00:19:26,398 --> 00:19:28,967 because it was discovered, we had to run the numbers, 399 00:19:28,967 --> 00:19:30,402 we had to realize it was going to hit the Earth, 400 00:19:30,402 --> 00:19:32,204 and then we had to figure out where 401 00:19:32,204 --> 00:19:33,572 it was going to hit the Earth, 402 00:19:33,572 --> 00:19:36,008 notify people, and encourage more observations, 403 00:19:36,008 --> 00:19:37,576 all compressed into one day! 404 00:19:37,576 --> 00:19:39,912 Fortunately, we knew it was small. 405 00:19:39,912 --> 00:19:41,246 That was the first question to ask, 406 00:19:41,246 --> 00:19:42,581 and we could see that it was small. 407 00:19:42,581 --> 00:19:46,985 - But it must have been just gathering together 408 00:19:46,985 --> 00:19:51,056 and picking up the phone call and hearing, 409 00:19:51,056 --> 00:19:54,893 I mean you guys just jumped on it, everybody. 410 00:19:54,893 --> 00:19:57,729 - Yeah all the teams did, the Minor Planet Center, 411 00:19:57,729 --> 00:20:00,232 our team, and Lindley Johnson of course was involved 412 00:20:00,232 --> 00:20:03,502 in communicating this to the higher ups 413 00:20:04,903 --> 00:20:06,972 at NASA and in our government. 414 00:20:06,972 --> 00:20:08,840 So it was a busy day for everyone. 415 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:10,876 - Why do you say that this was a real test, 416 00:20:10,876 --> 00:20:13,212 and you guys passed? 417 00:20:13,212 --> 00:20:15,280 - Well our calculations early on 418 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:17,449 indicated it would hit in the Nubian Desert in Sudan, 419 00:20:17,449 --> 00:20:21,320 and so we identified the location early, 420 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:23,689 and as we got more and more observations, 421 00:20:23,689 --> 00:20:27,192 we identified even the ground track so well 422 00:20:27,192 --> 00:20:30,195 that two months later when some astronomers 423 00:20:30,195 --> 00:20:32,030 went out to look for the meteorites, we told them 424 00:20:32,030 --> 00:20:33,298 exactly where to find them. - Wow! 425 00:20:33,298 --> 00:20:34,833 - There they were, right on the path. 426 00:20:34,833 --> 00:20:38,270 - Okay so it is the job of CNEOS, over the center, 427 00:20:38,270 --> 00:20:40,372 to figure out the orbit. 428 00:20:40,372 --> 00:20:43,775 And I think we should also explain to some people, 429 00:20:43,775 --> 00:20:46,278 some people don't realize that 430 00:20:47,946 --> 00:20:52,284 near Earth objects are orbiting the sun just like Earth is, 431 00:20:52,284 --> 00:20:54,720 and what you're figuring out is 432 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:57,155 the orbit of this body and whether or not 433 00:20:57,155 --> 00:20:59,758 it'll one day intersect with Earth's orbit. 434 00:20:59,758 --> 00:21:01,793 - That's right, near Earth objects 435 00:21:01,793 --> 00:21:03,295 orbit the sun, just like the planets, 436 00:21:03,295 --> 00:21:05,797 and they're on ellipses, and sometimes some of those 437 00:21:05,797 --> 00:21:08,133 ellipses come very close to the Earth's orbit. 438 00:21:08,133 --> 00:21:11,069 If there's an intersection of the orbits, 439 00:21:11,069 --> 00:21:13,605 then the next question is, well will the Earth 440 00:21:13,605 --> 00:21:15,707 ever be there when the asteroid gets there? 441 00:21:15,707 --> 00:21:17,743 And that's kind of a very precision calculation 442 00:21:17,743 --> 00:21:20,212 that we have to run, and we want to do that 443 00:21:20,212 --> 00:21:22,514 many decades into the future. 444 00:21:22,514 --> 00:21:25,117 Apophis was an early example of that. 445 00:21:25,117 --> 00:21:26,184 Back in 2004, 446 00:21:27,986 --> 00:21:29,588 the orbit of Apophis 447 00:21:29,588 --> 00:21:31,890 looked like there was a chance that Apophis, 448 00:21:31,890 --> 00:21:32,891 which is a large asteroid. 449 00:21:32,891 --> 00:21:33,892 - [Gay] I remember that! 450 00:21:33,892 --> 00:21:34,893 - You remember that? 451 00:21:34,893 --> 00:21:37,929 - It was 1,000 feet across. 452 00:21:37,929 --> 00:21:39,965 It looked like in 2029 that there was a chance 453 00:21:39,965 --> 00:21:43,869 that it could hit the Earth at that intersection point. 454 00:21:43,869 --> 00:21:46,505 And we were worried the impact probability 455 00:21:46,505 --> 00:21:48,307 kept getting a little higher and a little higher 456 00:21:48,307 --> 00:21:50,509 as we took more and more observations. 457 00:21:50,509 --> 00:21:53,111 - So let's take Apophis as an example. 458 00:21:53,111 --> 00:21:56,315 Very early on, I remember hearing the reports, 459 00:21:56,315 --> 00:22:00,085 oh it looks like there's 4% chance that it could it. 460 00:22:00,085 --> 00:22:04,156 And then, as the time went by, then oh maybe not, 461 00:22:04,156 --> 00:22:08,794 and then finally there was a report saying absolutely not. 462 00:22:08,794 --> 00:22:11,029 Was NASA wrong at the start? 463 00:22:11,029 --> 00:22:13,832 - No, because we add data. 464 00:22:13,832 --> 00:22:15,067 We get more and more information. 465 00:22:15,067 --> 00:22:18,337 We make our projections, it's kind of like 466 00:22:18,337 --> 00:22:20,005 shining a flashlight actually. 467 00:22:20,005 --> 00:22:22,974 - [Gay] And we have an image that we can probably put up. 468 00:22:22,974 --> 00:22:24,476 - [Paul] Yeah, yeah, so we would say, 469 00:22:24,476 --> 00:22:26,645 here's what it looks like in 2029. 470 00:22:26,645 --> 00:22:27,846 We think the asteroid could pass 471 00:22:27,846 --> 00:22:29,081 somewhere within the ellipse, 472 00:22:29,081 --> 00:22:30,582 and look the Earth is within the ellipse. 473 00:22:30,582 --> 00:22:31,783 We get a probability - Okay. 474 00:22:31,783 --> 00:22:34,453 - Maybe it was 2% there, and then a day later 475 00:22:34,453 --> 00:22:36,688 we get a little more data, and the next step, 476 00:22:36,688 --> 00:22:38,957 there's another ellipse and look, it's even more likely 477 00:22:38,957 --> 00:22:43,528 to hit the Earth as you get more data, 4% now. 478 00:22:43,528 --> 00:22:45,597 But then we found some more observations, 479 00:22:45,597 --> 00:22:48,600 actually in the archives of Apophis, 480 00:22:49,768 --> 00:22:51,236 and we ran the calculation again, 481 00:22:51,236 --> 00:22:54,206 and we get an even more precise prediction 482 00:22:54,206 --> 00:22:57,743 and now look, the Earth is no long inside the ellipse, 483 00:22:57,743 --> 00:22:59,244 so it can't hit. 484 00:22:59,244 --> 00:23:02,381 - So it's a matter of getting more and more information. 485 00:23:02,381 --> 00:23:06,918 How do you get that information to dial in the orbit, 486 00:23:06,918 --> 00:23:08,620 and get a more exact idea? 487 00:23:08,620 --> 00:23:11,656 - What I like to say is, we take all the numbers 488 00:23:11,656 --> 00:23:13,291 and we plot the path, you know. 489 00:23:13,291 --> 00:23:16,661 And so we're trying to see in the future 490 00:23:16,661 --> 00:23:18,663 how close it can come, basically. 491 00:23:18,663 --> 00:23:20,065 We're plotting the path. 492 00:23:20,065 --> 00:23:21,833 We're running the numbers in high precision. 493 00:23:21,833 --> 00:23:23,535 - Alright so when you're running the numbers 494 00:23:23,535 --> 00:23:27,672 on all these sightings that are coming in every single day, 495 00:23:27,672 --> 00:23:31,843 how do you figure out and how do you give an early warning 496 00:23:32,778 --> 00:23:34,479 to folks and flag them that, 497 00:23:34,479 --> 00:23:36,848 oh this is something to keep an eye on, 498 00:23:36,848 --> 00:23:40,652 oh that's not gonna be a problem for at least 100 years. 499 00:23:40,652 --> 00:23:42,120 I mean how do you do that? 500 00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:45,090 - Well we calculate a probability, 501 00:23:45,090 --> 00:23:47,025 and we have two systems to do this. 502 00:23:47,025 --> 00:23:49,127 One is what we call a sentry system, 503 00:23:49,127 --> 00:23:52,264 which runs a very long term, 100 year calculation, 504 00:23:52,264 --> 00:23:53,832 running the numbers and seeing how close 505 00:23:53,832 --> 00:23:55,100 the asteroids could get. 506 00:23:55,100 --> 00:23:59,037 We have a short term system for the NEOCP, 507 00:23:59,037 --> 00:24:01,106 the Near Earth Object Confirmation Page 508 00:24:01,106 --> 00:24:02,541 that Matt just mentioned. 509 00:24:02,541 --> 00:24:03,975 These are for brand newly discovered objects, 510 00:24:03,975 --> 00:24:06,445 that just got discovered and very little data, 511 00:24:06,445 --> 00:24:07,913 but we'd like to know. 512 00:24:07,913 --> 00:24:09,548 Objects are usually discovered 513 00:24:09,548 --> 00:24:10,582 when they're close to the Earth. 514 00:24:10,582 --> 00:24:12,117 Could it hit the Earth? 515 00:24:12,117 --> 00:24:14,786 You know even before we've even confirmed the object. 516 00:24:14,786 --> 00:24:18,256 So that's a short term impact hazard calculation, 517 00:24:18,256 --> 00:24:19,758 that's the SCOUT system. 518 00:24:19,758 --> 00:24:22,694 So we run the numbers both in short term and in long term. 519 00:24:22,694 --> 00:24:25,163 - Alright and you keep track of all the sightings 520 00:24:25,163 --> 00:24:27,566 and we can actually put up the number 521 00:24:27,566 --> 00:24:29,501 that you have sighted so far. 522 00:24:29,501 --> 00:24:30,802 - Well this is NASA, 523 00:24:30,802 --> 00:24:33,305 and in fact the entire catalog 524 00:24:34,673 --> 00:24:36,942 is now at 16,245 asteroids. 525 00:24:38,243 --> 00:24:40,645 That's the blue graph there. 526 00:24:40,645 --> 00:24:44,249 In 2017, which will be on the right axis there, 527 00:24:44,249 --> 00:24:45,784 you can see we're past 16,000. 528 00:24:45,784 --> 00:24:48,987 We're seeing them at about 1800 per year right now. 529 00:24:48,987 --> 00:24:50,355 - Wow. 530 00:24:50,355 --> 00:24:52,257 - Now some people are concerned, they say look how fast 531 00:24:52,257 --> 00:24:54,793 we're discovering them, why are all of a sudden 532 00:24:54,793 --> 00:24:55,961 asteroids hitting the Earth? 533 00:24:55,961 --> 00:24:57,395 That wasn't happening before, was it? 534 00:24:57,395 --> 00:25:00,232 It was, it was, we're just getting better at finding them. 535 00:25:00,232 --> 00:25:03,435 So we want to keep that discovery rate increasing. 536 00:25:03,435 --> 00:25:07,606 - Alright, well I have a social media question for you. 537 00:25:08,974 --> 00:25:12,277 Bob wants to know, how exactly do you know the size 538 00:25:12,277 --> 00:25:14,846 of passing asteroids? 539 00:25:14,846 --> 00:25:18,183 - They're only a point of light in these telescopes. 540 00:25:18,183 --> 00:25:19,451 - [Gay] Absolutely. 541 00:25:19,451 --> 00:25:20,719 - So all we know is how bright they are. 542 00:25:20,719 --> 00:25:24,122 So we have to assume a certain reflectivity, 543 00:25:24,122 --> 00:25:25,624 we're seeing them by reflected light. 544 00:25:25,624 --> 00:25:30,061 So we assume they're kind of as reflective as 14% 545 00:25:30,061 --> 00:25:31,863 of the sunshine is being reflected. 546 00:25:31,863 --> 00:25:35,800 So we calculate a rough size, just based on brightness. 547 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,169 - Alright, well thank you so much Paul. 548 00:25:38,169 --> 00:25:42,407 And we have a website for you if you want more information 549 00:25:42,407 --> 00:25:45,310 on CNEOS, go to cneos.jpl.nasa.gov. 550 00:25:50,615 --> 00:25:53,785 (upbeat techno music) 551 00:26:09,501 --> 00:26:12,137 NASA relies on trusted astronomers 552 00:26:12,137 --> 00:26:15,073 to do followup observations to confirm 553 00:26:15,073 --> 00:26:18,043 if a near Earth object is really there, 554 00:26:18,043 --> 00:26:20,445 and to help us refine the orbit. 555 00:26:20,445 --> 00:26:23,148 One followup observer is Robert Holmes. 556 00:26:23,148 --> 00:26:25,417 Bob started as a volunteer observer, 557 00:26:25,417 --> 00:26:28,820 but he's so good, NASA now pays him 558 00:26:28,820 --> 00:26:31,189 to hunt asteroids full time. 559 00:26:31,189 --> 00:26:34,292 He's one of the world's most prolific observers. 560 00:26:34,292 --> 00:26:35,727 How does he do it? 561 00:26:35,727 --> 00:26:40,031 We went to his home in Illinois farm country to find out. 562 00:26:40,031 --> 00:26:43,034 (easy guitar music) 563 00:26:54,846 --> 00:26:56,548 - We do followup observations, 564 00:26:56,548 --> 00:26:59,050 with NASA's near Earth Observations program. 565 00:26:59,050 --> 00:27:02,587 All night long, I'm running big telescopes. 566 00:27:03,755 --> 00:27:07,559 One's a 24 inch, a 30 inch, and a 32 inch. 567 00:27:07,559 --> 00:27:10,228 And then the 50 inch is my biggest telescope. 568 00:27:10,228 --> 00:27:13,765 Having four telescopes allows me, 569 00:27:13,765 --> 00:27:15,934 really to do four times as much work 570 00:27:15,934 --> 00:27:19,904 as the typical observatory that just has one telescope. 571 00:27:19,904 --> 00:27:22,073 So it is a huge advantage. 572 00:27:24,676 --> 00:27:27,245 I work on a nightly basis 573 00:27:27,245 --> 00:27:30,649 and I use these telescopes to look at asteroids. 574 00:27:30,649 --> 00:27:34,753 We do followup observations for the discoveries 575 00:27:34,753 --> 00:27:37,022 that are made by the large sky surveys. 576 00:27:37,022 --> 00:27:41,026 By looking at these asteroids and measuring these asteroids, 577 00:27:41,026 --> 00:27:43,428 we can determine what their possibilities 578 00:27:43,428 --> 00:27:46,798 of actually hitting the Earth in the future are going to be. 579 00:27:46,798 --> 00:27:49,401 NASA provides coordinates of specific objects 580 00:27:49,401 --> 00:27:51,770 that they need observations on. 581 00:27:51,770 --> 00:27:54,239 I'm going to punch in the coordinates here. 582 00:27:54,239 --> 00:27:59,110 And I'm doing this remotely from inside a control room. 583 00:27:59,110 --> 00:28:01,513 Not at the telescope. 584 00:28:01,513 --> 00:28:03,348 And so we look these objects up, 585 00:28:03,348 --> 00:28:06,217 and then use those coordinates to look at 586 00:28:06,217 --> 00:28:09,187 a tiny piece of the sky that this object happens to be in. 587 00:28:09,187 --> 00:28:11,489 And then we follow those objects 588 00:28:11,489 --> 00:28:15,760 and define and refine orbits for those objects, 589 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,596 and we do see uncertainty of where it's going to go 590 00:28:18,596 --> 00:28:20,465 in the near future. 591 00:28:20,465 --> 00:28:23,234 I started off as a volunteer in 2006. 592 00:28:23,234 --> 00:28:26,504 It's just blossomed into a full time opportutnity 593 00:28:26,504 --> 00:28:29,574 to work for NASA under their grant program, 594 00:28:29,574 --> 00:28:33,211 where I'm now doing this every single clear night. 595 00:28:33,211 --> 00:28:36,715 You know we're start the observing run for 596 00:28:37,682 --> 00:28:38,516 2017 KK3. 597 00:28:40,752 --> 00:28:43,354 You don't build a telescope that's this big 598 00:28:43,354 --> 00:28:46,257 without being passionate about what you do. 599 00:28:46,257 --> 00:28:48,993 I'm really driven to be a part of a program 600 00:28:48,993 --> 00:28:52,897 that's important and has importance to the future. 601 00:28:52,897 --> 00:28:55,834 And we're not talking about next year or the year after, 602 00:28:55,834 --> 00:28:57,736 we're talking about asteroids that could 603 00:28:57,736 --> 00:28:59,938 potentially hit the Earth 100 years from now. 604 00:28:59,938 --> 00:29:01,306 And the work we do today 605 00:29:01,306 --> 00:29:04,709 may make a difference 100 years from now. 606 00:29:10,148 --> 00:29:13,151 - Like Bob Holmes, the Magdalena Ridge Observatory 607 00:29:13,151 --> 00:29:14,886 does followup observations. 608 00:29:14,886 --> 00:29:18,623 It's located 10,600 feet in the mountains 609 00:29:18,623 --> 00:29:20,091 near Socorro, New Mexico. 610 00:29:20,091 --> 00:29:23,261 Magdalena also characterizes asteroids. 611 00:29:23,261 --> 00:29:25,663 How fast the asteroid is spinning, 612 00:29:25,663 --> 00:29:27,065 what kind of shape it has, 613 00:29:27,065 --> 00:29:30,301 and what's it made out of, how big is it? 614 00:29:30,301 --> 00:29:33,238 The observatory has a fast telescope 615 00:29:33,238 --> 00:29:37,876 capable of tracking rockets, asteroids, even space junk. 616 00:29:37,876 --> 00:29:40,545 Eilene Ryan is the Director of the telescope, 617 00:29:40,545 --> 00:29:43,281 and she joins us now via Skype, hi Eilene! 618 00:29:43,281 --> 00:29:44,582 - Hello Gay. 619 00:29:44,582 --> 00:29:48,453 - So explain to me this fast telescope. 620 00:29:48,453 --> 00:29:49,687 What do you mean by that? 621 00:29:49,687 --> 00:29:52,257 I mean can it whip in a direction 622 00:29:52,257 --> 00:29:54,159 and track something really quickly? 623 00:29:54,159 --> 00:29:56,795 Is it the F stop, what are talking about? 624 00:29:56,795 --> 00:30:00,098 - Well actually we're talking about the telescope motion. 625 00:30:00,098 --> 00:30:02,200 It can move 10 times faster 626 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:04,469 than a normal astronomical telescope, 627 00:30:04,469 --> 00:30:08,473 and that's pretty fast, so we are at an advantage 628 00:30:08,473 --> 00:30:10,809 when we're looking at asteroids that come 629 00:30:10,809 --> 00:30:12,877 very close to the Earth because they can also 630 00:30:12,877 --> 00:30:15,246 move very rapidly through the sky. 631 00:30:15,246 --> 00:30:17,615 So if we want to demonstrate this, 632 00:30:17,615 --> 00:30:20,185 we can watch a movie that we took 633 00:30:20,185 --> 00:30:22,921 of an asteroid that came very close to the Earth 634 00:30:22,921 --> 00:30:26,090 in November 2015, Asteroid 2015 VY105. 635 00:30:27,859 --> 00:30:30,962 So the bright central dot in the movie is 636 00:30:30,962 --> 00:30:34,332 what our 2.4 meter telescope is locked on and tracking. 637 00:30:34,332 --> 00:30:37,802 And as you can see, the streaks that are going by, 638 00:30:37,802 --> 00:30:40,438 they're background stars that the asteroid 639 00:30:40,438 --> 00:30:43,675 is rapidly speeding by, so pretty fast. 640 00:30:45,710 --> 00:30:49,080 It's pretty amazing that we can look at this, 641 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:52,283 and analyze close-approaching asteroids, 642 00:30:52,283 --> 00:30:54,018 but what's most interesting about the movie, 643 00:30:54,018 --> 00:30:56,287 if you look at the final frame of the movie, 644 00:30:56,287 --> 00:30:59,157 we have captured Asteroid VY105 645 00:30:59,157 --> 00:31:01,526 coming so close to the Earth, that it actually 646 00:31:01,526 --> 00:31:04,562 passed through our geosynchronous satellite zone. 647 00:31:04,562 --> 00:31:08,399 So if you watch the movie for the final frame, 648 00:31:09,801 --> 00:31:13,504 you can see an odd angled streak at the bottom of the frame. 649 00:31:13,504 --> 00:31:16,074 And that's not a star streaking by, 650 00:31:16,074 --> 00:31:18,743 it's actually one of NASA's communication satellites. 651 00:31:18,743 --> 00:31:22,013 So the asteroid passed very close by this satellite 652 00:31:22,013 --> 00:31:25,416 as well as several others, but luckily it didn't hit. 653 00:31:25,416 --> 00:31:27,518 - That was very close. 654 00:31:27,518 --> 00:31:31,890 But as you mentioned, you know we're look at it same as you 655 00:31:31,890 --> 00:31:33,958 they're just little points of light. 656 00:31:33,958 --> 00:31:38,029 How are you able to get any characteristic information 657 00:31:38,029 --> 00:31:39,864 on something so small? 658 00:31:41,032 --> 00:31:42,734 - Well it's actually pretty fun and amazing 659 00:31:42,734 --> 00:31:46,037 to realize how much we can learn from a point of light. 660 00:31:46,037 --> 00:31:49,908 One of the things that we study, and we specialize in at MRO 661 00:31:49,908 --> 00:31:53,344 is looking asteroid rotation rate. 662 00:31:53,344 --> 00:31:55,446 So asteroids spin on their axis as they're moving 663 00:31:55,446 --> 00:31:57,215 in their orbit around the sun. 664 00:31:57,215 --> 00:31:59,017 And so here I have model asteroid, 665 00:31:59,017 --> 00:32:01,052 and you may have noticed it's not very round. 666 00:32:01,052 --> 00:32:04,789 Most asteroids are potato shaped or irregularly shaped, 667 00:32:04,789 --> 00:32:08,259 but if we use this model to examine 668 00:32:08,259 --> 00:32:10,428 how could we find from a point of light, 669 00:32:10,428 --> 00:32:12,330 or light variation, a spin rate? 670 00:32:12,330 --> 00:32:15,533 Well, asteroids shine by reflected sunlight, 671 00:32:15,533 --> 00:32:19,170 so here as they rotate, and this model asteroid, 672 00:32:19,170 --> 00:32:21,940 and you can see the surface area is changing. 673 00:32:21,940 --> 00:32:24,242 So we might have a little bit of light 674 00:32:24,242 --> 00:32:26,411 reflected back to the instruments on our telescope 675 00:32:26,411 --> 00:32:28,379 when the asteroid is in this position. 676 00:32:28,379 --> 00:32:31,015 And then we get a lot of light, a little bit of light, 677 00:32:31,015 --> 00:32:33,151 a lot of light, and a little bit. 678 00:32:33,151 --> 00:32:35,286 Let's look at this next movie and we can see this 679 00:32:35,286 --> 00:32:37,855 schematically represented by 680 00:32:37,855 --> 00:32:39,891 an egg shaped asteroid rotating. 681 00:32:39,891 --> 00:32:42,327 You can see as the asteroid rotates, 682 00:32:42,327 --> 00:32:46,731 the light is changing and we get two peaks and two dips, 683 00:32:46,731 --> 00:32:49,067 which represent a rotation cycle. 684 00:32:49,067 --> 00:32:51,736 This is usually referred to as a light curve, 685 00:32:51,736 --> 00:32:52,971 this changing brightness. 686 00:32:52,971 --> 00:32:54,839 And when we go through this whole cycle, 687 00:32:54,839 --> 00:32:56,474 we get one rotation rate. 688 00:32:56,474 --> 00:33:00,778 So we can have asteroids spinning as short a time 689 00:33:00,778 --> 00:33:04,115 as tens of seconds to many, many hours, 690 00:33:04,115 --> 00:33:07,118 but we can look at this and analyze the asteroid 691 00:33:07,118 --> 00:33:10,588 to understand potentially its strength, 692 00:33:10,588 --> 00:33:13,324 whether it's a rubble pile or an intact object. 693 00:33:13,324 --> 00:33:15,760 And we look at the peaks and dips to see 694 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:19,864 if we can also infer the actual shape of the asteroid. 695 00:33:19,864 --> 00:33:21,499 - I remember once when we were first talking, 696 00:33:21,499 --> 00:33:25,670 that you see these flybys as a mission coming to you. 697 00:33:28,306 --> 00:33:31,976 That you know we work so hard to send space craft 698 00:33:31,976 --> 00:33:36,848 far, far away to explore comets, and asteroids, and planets, 699 00:33:36,848 --> 00:33:40,785 but here is this wonderful moment where they come to you 700 00:33:40,785 --> 00:33:43,321 and you're saying that you're hitting it 701 00:33:43,321 --> 00:33:44,722 with everything you've got. 702 00:33:44,722 --> 00:33:46,190 And so you have - That's right! 703 00:33:46,190 --> 00:33:49,527 - Many instruments, what else do you find as this thing 704 00:33:49,527 --> 00:33:51,429 is just swinging by you, 705 00:33:51,429 --> 00:33:54,932 what more information can you gather? 706 00:33:54,932 --> 00:33:57,969 - Well, we can also do, in addition to spin rates, 707 00:33:57,969 --> 00:34:00,004 we want to get everything, as you said, 708 00:34:00,004 --> 00:34:01,439 while we have it in our sights. 709 00:34:01,439 --> 00:34:04,308 So we can look at an asteroid 710 00:34:04,308 --> 00:34:06,511 and also determine its composition. 711 00:34:06,511 --> 00:34:08,913 One advantage we have at MRO is that 712 00:34:08,913 --> 00:34:11,315 we can mount multiple instruments at the same time 713 00:34:11,315 --> 00:34:13,584 on our telescope, so we can easily switch 714 00:34:13,584 --> 00:34:15,586 from a light-changing instrument, 715 00:34:15,586 --> 00:34:18,289 to something called a spectrometer, 716 00:34:18,289 --> 00:34:20,925 which will separate the light into different wavelengths 717 00:34:20,925 --> 00:34:24,328 and we can then analyze and get a fingerprint 718 00:34:24,328 --> 00:34:27,265 of the particular composition of an asteroid. 719 00:34:27,265 --> 00:34:30,968 So asteroids can be metal, rock, or combinations of the two, 720 00:34:30,968 --> 00:34:33,971 and as Paul Chodas mentioned earlier in the broadcast, 721 00:34:33,971 --> 00:34:37,742 when we know overall reflectivity based on the composition, 722 00:34:37,742 --> 00:34:41,879 we can get an estimate of size, which is very important. 723 00:34:41,879 --> 00:34:45,817 And specifically, different types of asteroids, 724 00:34:45,817 --> 00:34:49,087 different compositions, would require different approaches 725 00:34:49,087 --> 00:34:52,290 for deflection if we ever found a hazardous one 726 00:34:52,290 --> 00:34:54,492 that we needed to so something about 727 00:34:54,492 --> 00:34:56,027 while it was still in space. 728 00:34:56,027 --> 00:34:58,930 So a very vital information characterization 729 00:34:58,930 --> 00:35:01,265 and an important practical role it can play. 730 00:35:01,265 --> 00:35:04,068 - So getting as much information as you can, 731 00:35:04,068 --> 00:35:05,436 so you know what you're dealing with? 732 00:35:05,436 --> 00:35:06,671 - [Eilene] Absolutely. 733 00:35:06,671 --> 00:35:08,739 - Alright well I understand you told me 734 00:35:08,739 --> 00:35:12,376 that there is a little side story that you have 735 00:35:12,376 --> 00:35:17,281 a mirror that you use, it's got a little bit of a legacy, 736 00:35:17,281 --> 00:35:20,118 a little bit of heritage there. 737 00:35:20,118 --> 00:35:21,619 - Actually it's pretty exciting. 738 00:35:21,619 --> 00:35:24,856 Our telescope mirror is actually one of two spares 739 00:35:24,856 --> 00:35:27,492 leftover from the Hubble Space Telescope program. 740 00:35:27,492 --> 00:35:30,328 So we have the only working spare 741 00:35:30,328 --> 00:35:32,430 incorporated into our telescope, 742 00:35:32,430 --> 00:35:35,166 the other spare went to the Smithsonian Museum 743 00:35:35,166 --> 00:35:37,935 in Washington DC after it wasn't needed for Hubble. 744 00:35:37,935 --> 00:35:40,705 So we feel very honored to have such a mirror, 745 00:35:40,705 --> 00:35:43,674 and it performs absolutely beautifully, 746 00:35:43,674 --> 00:35:46,110 and so New Mexico Tech University, 747 00:35:46,110 --> 00:35:48,012 which runs Magdalena Ridge Observatory 748 00:35:48,012 --> 00:35:49,647 actually got it for free. 749 00:35:49,647 --> 00:35:51,516 - Wow, great story. 750 00:35:51,516 --> 00:35:54,385 I have a social media question for you, Eilene. 751 00:35:54,385 --> 00:35:58,222 Here it is, many out there on social media want to know 752 00:35:58,222 --> 00:36:02,093 when there are close approaches by passing asteroids. 753 00:36:02,093 --> 00:36:05,196 Can you see them with your naked eye? 754 00:36:06,531 --> 00:36:09,300 - Sometimes you can, it depends on how bright they are. 755 00:36:09,300 --> 00:36:10,768 Most of the time that we needed 756 00:36:10,768 --> 00:36:13,938 even just a small backyard telescope. 757 00:36:13,938 --> 00:36:16,374 Naturally if you went outside and you looked 758 00:36:16,374 --> 00:36:18,442 in the night sky you might see things 759 00:36:18,442 --> 00:36:21,379 of a visual magnitude of five or six, 760 00:36:21,379 --> 00:36:23,848 even asteroids that come very close to the Earth, 761 00:36:23,848 --> 00:36:25,616 we might even have them being 762 00:36:25,616 --> 00:36:28,753 as bright as 10 or 12 on our brightness scale. 763 00:36:28,753 --> 00:36:30,621 So you can see them through, 764 00:36:30,621 --> 00:36:32,089 sometimes your backyard telescope, 765 00:36:32,089 --> 00:36:34,058 sometimes they're very faint still 766 00:36:34,058 --> 00:36:36,827 and we need big telescopes like our 2.4 meter telescope 767 00:36:36,827 --> 00:36:38,829 to actually study. 768 00:36:38,829 --> 00:36:41,365 - Alright Eilene, always a pleasure to talk to you. 769 00:36:41,365 --> 00:36:44,368 Thank you so much for helping us out today. 770 00:36:44,368 --> 00:36:46,204 - [Eilene] Thanks Gay. 771 00:36:47,104 --> 00:36:50,274 (upbeat techno music) 772 00:37:04,222 --> 00:37:07,291 - At the start of the show, we showed a radar movie 773 00:37:07,291 --> 00:37:09,060 of Asteroid 2014 JO25 774 00:37:11,262 --> 00:37:13,931 made using the 70 meter antenna 775 00:37:13,931 --> 00:37:16,334 at Goldstone Station in the Mohave Desert. 776 00:37:16,334 --> 00:37:19,470 The antenna is part of NASA's Deep Space Network, 777 00:37:19,470 --> 00:37:21,138 which communicates with our space craft 778 00:37:21,138 --> 00:37:24,842 across the solar system, from this room in fact. 779 00:37:24,842 --> 00:37:27,845 But that communications disc is actually 780 00:37:27,845 --> 00:37:30,648 a terrific scientific instrument as well. 781 00:37:30,648 --> 00:37:32,984 Using it for radar gives us a chance 782 00:37:32,984 --> 00:37:36,020 to see asteroids in great detail. 783 00:37:36,020 --> 00:37:38,956 Let me introduce you now to radar scientist, 784 00:37:38,956 --> 00:37:42,126 Marina Brozovic, here at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 785 00:37:42,126 --> 00:37:42,960 Hi Marina! 786 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:44,395 - Hi. 787 00:37:44,395 --> 00:37:48,199 - Okay, explain to us how radar works, in the first place. 788 00:37:48,199 --> 00:37:50,534 - Well our planetary radars are very much 789 00:37:50,534 --> 00:37:53,738 like the airport radars that track airplanes in the sky. 790 00:37:53,738 --> 00:37:57,642 But airport radars, they track airplanes that are within 791 00:37:57,642 --> 00:38:02,013 60 mile radius, and our planetary radars reach much further. 792 00:38:02,013 --> 00:38:03,447 So we are tracking near Earth objects 793 00:38:03,447 --> 00:38:04,949 that are hundreds of thousands, 794 00:38:04,949 --> 00:38:07,718 sometimes more than millions of miles away from Earth. 795 00:38:07,718 --> 00:38:09,186 And for this you need 796 00:38:09,186 --> 00:38:11,455 really powerful transmitters and very large antennas, 797 00:38:11,455 --> 00:38:13,958 such as, there is a 300 meter dish, 798 00:38:13,958 --> 00:38:16,794 Arecibo, in Puerto Rico, and then we also have 799 00:38:16,794 --> 00:38:20,564 our 70 meter, the SS-14 antenna at Goldstone. 800 00:38:20,564 --> 00:38:22,967 And so let me show you, there is a like a brief animation 801 00:38:22,967 --> 00:38:24,568 of how radar really works. 802 00:38:24,568 --> 00:38:27,905 So it transmits radio waves, and these radio waves, 803 00:38:27,905 --> 00:38:29,307 they bounce off the asteroid. 804 00:38:29,307 --> 00:38:31,575 And the echo that comes back carries 805 00:38:31,575 --> 00:38:33,978 a lot of information about that asteroid. 806 00:38:33,978 --> 00:38:36,981 So for example, when we observed Asteroid Apophis 807 00:38:36,981 --> 00:38:41,319 during 2013 flyby, there is a video showing 808 00:38:41,319 --> 00:38:45,356 how we zapped the asteroid as it was going by. 809 00:38:45,356 --> 00:38:47,525 We zapped it with radar, and we basically wanted 810 00:38:47,525 --> 00:38:49,760 to very precisely measure where it is 811 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:51,295 and how fast its moving. 812 00:38:51,295 --> 00:38:52,663 And we use these measurements 813 00:38:52,663 --> 00:38:55,099 in order to improve our orbital calculations, 814 00:38:55,099 --> 00:38:57,635 because better data means better orbits. 815 00:38:57,635 --> 00:39:01,005 - So what does radar then bring to the table? 816 00:39:01,005 --> 00:39:04,108 - Well radar is a little bit like a Swiss Army knife, 817 00:39:04,108 --> 00:39:08,479 because it reveals so much about asteroid at once. 818 00:39:08,479 --> 00:39:10,414 You know in optical telescopes, 819 00:39:10,414 --> 00:39:12,616 asteroids are these specks of lights, 820 00:39:12,616 --> 00:39:16,220 but in radar images, they become worlds of their own. 821 00:39:16,220 --> 00:39:19,223 And you can see all these details in them, 822 00:39:19,223 --> 00:39:21,659 so in the radar images you directly see 823 00:39:21,659 --> 00:39:23,527 how asteroid looks like. 824 00:39:23,527 --> 00:39:26,430 If it has a satellite, how large it is. 825 00:39:26,430 --> 00:39:28,499 How it's rotating, and we can even see 826 00:39:28,499 --> 00:39:29,967 surface features on it. 827 00:39:29,967 --> 00:39:33,804 So we see ridges, and facets, and concavities, 828 00:39:35,906 --> 00:39:39,543 and boulders, and basically all the nooks and crannies. 829 00:39:39,543 --> 00:39:41,479 And we have such example, 830 00:39:41,479 --> 00:39:43,414 there is a video you already showed, 831 00:39:43,414 --> 00:39:45,649 this asteroid we observed a couple of months ago, 832 00:39:45,649 --> 00:39:48,386 2014 JO25, so it turned out to be 833 00:39:49,587 --> 00:39:52,957 this 2/3 of a mile long space peanut. 834 00:39:52,957 --> 00:39:56,193 And we were just watching it rotate in front of our eyes 835 00:39:56,193 --> 00:39:58,996 during four eyes of radar observations, 836 00:39:58,996 --> 00:40:00,898 and it's fasincating that you could see 837 00:40:00,898 --> 00:40:04,034 how this front lobe is casting radar shadow 838 00:40:04,034 --> 00:40:05,669 and the back lobe, and you can see 839 00:40:05,669 --> 00:40:07,037 all the concavities and ridges, 840 00:40:07,037 --> 00:40:08,806 and if you look very carefully, 841 00:40:08,806 --> 00:40:10,741 there are these radar bright specks 842 00:40:10,741 --> 00:40:12,376 that are rotating with asteroid, 843 00:40:12,376 --> 00:40:15,613 and we believe that these are meter-sized surface boulders, 844 00:40:15,613 --> 00:40:17,948 and all this is visible while the asteroid 845 00:40:17,948 --> 00:40:21,919 was 1.8 million miles away from Earth. 846 00:40:21,919 --> 00:40:23,921 - Well it's interesting, sometimes you can even see 847 00:40:23,921 --> 00:40:28,726 if there's more than one asteroid, and they're together! 848 00:40:28,726 --> 00:40:32,263 - Yes, these are binary asteroids, and now we know, 849 00:40:32,263 --> 00:40:35,599 thanks to radar, and optical telescopes, 850 00:40:35,599 --> 00:40:39,170 we know that one in six asteroids in near Earth population, 851 00:40:39,170 --> 00:40:42,973 asteroids that are larger than about 140 meters in size, 852 00:40:42,973 --> 00:40:44,875 they have a companion. 853 00:40:44,875 --> 00:40:47,111 We even found two triple systems. 854 00:40:47,111 --> 00:40:48,646 So there are actually - Wow. 855 00:40:48,646 --> 00:40:52,049 - Two asteroids that we know of, that have two satellites. 856 00:40:52,049 --> 00:40:54,585 - Alright, so all of this focus has been 857 00:40:54,585 --> 00:40:58,022 on getting an understanding of an asteroid 858 00:40:58,022 --> 00:41:01,492 that may be coming to us, headed this way. 859 00:41:01,492 --> 00:41:03,894 But could we use this information to help us 860 00:41:03,894 --> 00:41:06,230 if we want to go exploring asteroids? 861 00:41:06,230 --> 00:41:08,499 - Absolutely, so radar observations, 862 00:41:08,499 --> 00:41:10,234 they have been used in the past 863 00:41:10,234 --> 00:41:11,802 to support space craft missions. 864 00:41:11,802 --> 00:41:14,472 And in fact, Mission OSIRIS-REx, 865 00:41:15,906 --> 00:41:19,410 that it's on its way to rendezvous Asteroid Bennu in 2018, 866 00:41:19,410 --> 00:41:21,645 has definitely benefited from 867 00:41:21,645 --> 00:41:24,815 the existing radar observations because based on that 868 00:41:24,815 --> 00:41:28,519 we had a full reconstruction of Bennu's shape, 869 00:41:28,519 --> 00:41:30,554 we had an estimate of its size, 870 00:41:30,554 --> 00:41:32,656 of its spin state, and even mass. 871 00:41:32,656 --> 00:41:34,892 And you can imagine all this information is really useful 872 00:41:34,892 --> 00:41:37,328 when you are planning proximity 873 00:41:37,328 --> 00:41:39,396 space craft operations around asteroid. 874 00:41:39,396 --> 00:41:42,867 It just gives you kind of level of safety for the mission, 875 00:41:42,867 --> 00:41:45,903 and it also allows for you to better plan 876 00:41:45,903 --> 00:41:47,438 the scientific observations. 877 00:41:47,438 --> 00:41:50,140 - Okay, I have a social media question. 878 00:41:50,140 --> 00:41:53,410 And this one is someone who's trying to understand, 879 00:41:53,410 --> 00:41:56,747 why do asteroids have these odd names, 880 00:41:56,747 --> 00:42:00,417 like 2014 JO25, why don't you call it Madge? 881 00:42:03,487 --> 00:42:05,055 (laughing) 882 00:42:05,055 --> 00:42:06,490 Why do you have these names? 883 00:42:06,490 --> 00:42:09,693 - Yeah so there is actually a good reason for it, 884 00:42:09,693 --> 00:42:12,930 so Minor Planet Center assigns these temporary designations 885 00:42:12,930 --> 00:42:14,965 and they mean something to us. 886 00:42:14,965 --> 00:42:17,701 For example, 2014 JO25. 887 00:42:17,701 --> 00:42:20,738 2014 means it was discovered in 2014. 888 00:42:20,738 --> 00:42:23,574 Letter J tells me that it was discovered 889 00:42:23,574 --> 00:42:25,643 in first two weeks of May. 890 00:42:25,643 --> 00:42:28,612 And then O25, there's a little formula. 891 00:42:28,612 --> 00:42:32,683 That tells me that it was 639th minor planet 892 00:42:32,683 --> 00:42:35,486 that was discovered in that two week period. 893 00:42:35,486 --> 00:42:37,621 So there is a method to the madness. 894 00:42:37,621 --> 00:42:41,825 - Alright, so when people see that, 2014 2025, 895 00:42:41,825 --> 00:42:43,127 they understand. 896 00:42:43,127 --> 00:42:45,195 - Yes, there is actually meaning. 897 00:42:45,195 --> 00:42:46,297 - Thanks Marina. 898 00:42:46,297 --> 00:42:48,299 - Absolutely, thank you. 899 00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:52,770 (upbeat techno music) 900 00:43:07,818 --> 00:43:12,056 - We mentioned NASA's NEOWISE space telescope earlier. 901 00:43:12,056 --> 00:43:14,858 NEOWISE is a space telescope, 902 00:43:14,858 --> 00:43:18,495 now it was originally designed to image the sky 903 00:43:18,495 --> 00:43:22,132 in the infrared spectrum, that is the spectrum 904 00:43:22,132 --> 00:43:23,634 that detects heat. 905 00:43:25,603 --> 00:43:29,106 Now originally this was the WISE telescope, 906 00:43:29,106 --> 00:43:31,342 and it was sent to survey the skies. 907 00:43:31,342 --> 00:43:35,746 Then it completed its job and it was mothballed, 908 00:43:35,746 --> 00:43:39,550 and then it was realized that maybe it was very good 909 00:43:39,550 --> 00:43:41,952 at detecting asteroids. 910 00:43:41,952 --> 00:43:44,488 So then it was taken out of mothballs 911 00:43:44,488 --> 00:43:47,725 and became the NEOWISE Mission, 912 00:43:47,725 --> 00:43:51,629 in which it allowed us to actually search for asteroids. 913 00:43:51,629 --> 00:43:55,332 It's focus now to characterizing and finding 914 00:43:55,332 --> 00:43:57,034 near Earth asteroids. 915 00:43:57,034 --> 00:44:00,471 It turns out that infrared is just a great tool 916 00:44:00,471 --> 00:44:03,540 for hunting space rocks, especially the dark ones 917 00:44:03,540 --> 00:44:06,944 that are difficult for the ground telescopes to spot. 918 00:44:06,944 --> 00:44:10,180 Amy Mainzer is the principal investigator for NEOWISE, 919 00:44:10,180 --> 00:44:14,351 Amy can you explain to me why this is such a great tool, 920 00:44:16,020 --> 00:44:18,455 why is infrared so great? 921 00:44:18,455 --> 00:44:19,657 - Thanks Gay. 922 00:44:19,657 --> 00:44:21,325 Well one of the great things about using 923 00:44:21,325 --> 00:44:23,594 different wavelengths of light to study these objects, 924 00:44:23,594 --> 00:44:26,096 is that we learn something different and unique 925 00:44:26,096 --> 00:44:28,032 from each new way that we look at it. 926 00:44:28,032 --> 00:44:30,300 We just heard about how radar provides a whole array 927 00:44:30,300 --> 00:44:32,136 of useful information about asteroids. 928 00:44:32,136 --> 00:44:35,172 Infrared light is different from both 929 00:44:35,172 --> 00:44:38,609 visible light and radar in terms of what it returns to us. 930 00:44:38,609 --> 00:44:40,577 With visible light, we're seeing light bouncing 931 00:44:40,577 --> 00:44:43,447 off the surface of asteroid and coming into our telescopes, 932 00:44:43,447 --> 00:44:46,650 so we're very sensitive to the properties of the surface. 933 00:44:46,650 --> 00:44:48,185 If the surface is really dark, 934 00:44:48,185 --> 00:44:50,754 it's harder to see with visible wavelengths. 935 00:44:50,754 --> 00:44:52,156 Whereas-- 936 00:44:52,156 --> 00:44:54,158 - [Gay] And so Amy, we actually have an infrared camera 937 00:44:54,158 --> 00:44:57,995 in the room with you, and so what is it doing? 938 00:44:57,995 --> 00:44:59,730 It's just detecting the heat? 939 00:44:59,730 --> 00:45:01,231 - Yeah, that's right. 940 00:45:01,231 --> 00:45:03,367 So what you're seeing is the heat that's coming off of me, 941 00:45:03,367 --> 00:45:05,235 you can see that my nose is cold, 942 00:45:05,235 --> 00:45:06,937 my fingers are a little cold, 943 00:45:06,937 --> 00:45:08,572 but this I the kind of imaging 944 00:45:08,572 --> 00:45:10,107 that we use with the asteroids. 945 00:45:10,107 --> 00:45:13,177 And we look for them using their heat signatures. 946 00:45:13,177 --> 00:45:16,346 So this lets us see them regardless of whether 947 00:45:16,346 --> 00:45:19,450 they're kind of light in color on their surfaces, 948 00:45:19,450 --> 00:45:21,318 or darker in color on their surfaces. 949 00:45:21,318 --> 00:45:22,586 - [Gay] And how is that helpful 950 00:45:22,586 --> 00:45:25,122 in terms of being able to spot the asteroids? 951 00:45:25,122 --> 00:45:28,125 - Well there definitely are asteroids out there 952 00:45:28,125 --> 00:45:29,493 in the population that we know 953 00:45:29,493 --> 00:45:31,729 that are made of carbonaceous materials, 954 00:45:31,729 --> 00:45:34,431 as opposed to lighter colored stony materials. 955 00:45:34,431 --> 00:45:36,633 These really dark colored objects 956 00:45:36,633 --> 00:45:38,469 are harder to spot with visible light, 957 00:45:38,469 --> 00:45:40,738 but if we look for them with their heat signatures, 958 00:45:40,738 --> 00:45:45,576 using infrared telescopes, like NEOWISE, they pop out. 959 00:45:45,576 --> 00:45:49,012 - Alright, so tell me more about NEOWISE. 960 00:45:49,012 --> 00:45:51,648 I tried to relay this story about, 961 00:45:51,648 --> 00:45:54,118 that it wasn't originally sent out there 962 00:45:54,118 --> 00:45:55,586 to look for asteroids. 963 00:45:55,586 --> 00:45:57,254 - That's right, the original mission 964 00:45:57,254 --> 00:46:00,224 is the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission. 965 00:46:00,224 --> 00:46:02,693 And the principal investigators, Dr Ned Wright of UCLA, 966 00:46:02,693 --> 00:46:05,329 and the mission was originally designed 967 00:46:05,329 --> 00:46:07,831 to survey the whole sky in infrared light, 968 00:46:07,831 --> 00:46:09,933 to search for very bright galaxies 969 00:46:09,933 --> 00:46:12,870 and very cool stars, it did that beautifully. 970 00:46:12,870 --> 00:46:14,972 It finished its prime mission successfully. 971 00:46:14,972 --> 00:46:17,074 But in the process we found that it was 972 00:46:17,074 --> 00:46:19,176 quite effective at spotting asteroids, 973 00:46:19,176 --> 00:46:20,911 particularly these very dark objects. 974 00:46:20,911 --> 00:46:25,115 So when the mission was completed in 2011, 975 00:46:25,115 --> 00:46:27,284 we thought that was the end of the story. 976 00:46:27,284 --> 00:46:30,087 But we were lucky, we were able to bring it back to life. 977 00:46:30,087 --> 00:46:33,590 - Absolutely not, we have a graphic that I can pull up, 978 00:46:33,590 --> 00:46:37,761 and it shows all the discoveries that NEOWISE has made. 979 00:46:39,096 --> 00:46:41,899 How many discoveries has NEOWISE made? 980 00:46:41,899 --> 00:46:43,967 - Yeah so the graphic shows you 981 00:46:43,967 --> 00:46:46,637 the asteroids that we've detected 982 00:46:46,637 --> 00:46:50,073 since the restart of the mission in 2013. 983 00:46:50,073 --> 00:46:52,342 So if we include the prime mission 984 00:46:52,342 --> 00:46:53,844 as well as the restart years, 985 00:46:53,844 --> 00:46:56,947 we have a total of around 34,000 new discoveries. 986 00:46:56,947 --> 00:47:00,951 - 34,000, alright so we obviously have shown 987 00:47:00,951 --> 00:47:05,489 that this technology works, so what do we see ahead 988 00:47:05,489 --> 00:47:07,291 as future technology? 989 00:47:07,291 --> 00:47:09,860 Kind of maximizing on what we've learned. 990 00:47:09,860 --> 00:47:11,328 - Right, well one of the great things about 991 00:47:11,328 --> 00:47:14,398 having gotten to use this spacecraft for a new purpose, 992 00:47:14,398 --> 00:47:16,733 which is to search for asteroids and comets, 993 00:47:16,733 --> 00:47:18,335 is that we've learned a great deal about 994 00:47:18,335 --> 00:47:21,305 how do to do this work using a space based telescope, 995 00:47:21,305 --> 00:47:25,142 an infrared telescope, for discovery in large numbers. 996 00:47:25,142 --> 00:47:27,077 Now the thing is, NEOWISE was never 997 00:47:27,077 --> 00:47:28,645 originally designed for this purpose, 998 00:47:28,645 --> 00:47:30,881 and all good things are going to come to an end. 999 00:47:30,881 --> 00:47:32,616 Eventually the mission is going to end. 1000 00:47:32,616 --> 00:47:34,852 It was not designed to last this long. 1001 00:47:34,852 --> 00:47:37,588 And it really wasn't designed from the get-go 1002 00:47:37,588 --> 00:47:39,022 for searching for asteroids. 1003 00:47:39,022 --> 00:47:41,592 However we've been looking for new ways 1004 00:47:41,592 --> 00:47:43,794 to search for asteroids using a space telescope 1005 00:47:43,794 --> 00:47:46,530 that is designed for this purpose. 1006 00:47:46,530 --> 00:47:50,200 And we call that the Near Earth Object Camera, or NEO-Cam. 1007 00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:53,637 - [Gay] Alright, and there is a picture of it. 1008 00:47:53,637 --> 00:47:57,875 - Right so it's basically designed to go out 1009 00:47:57,875 --> 00:48:00,143 and spend all of its time searching for 1010 00:48:00,143 --> 00:48:02,312 asteroids and comets that could potentially 1011 00:48:02,312 --> 00:48:03,747 get close to the Earth. 1012 00:48:03,747 --> 00:48:05,782 And the main difference from NEOWISE 1013 00:48:05,782 --> 00:48:07,951 is that it's going to have a longer lifetime, 1014 00:48:07,951 --> 00:48:10,554 it can search a much wider area of the sky, 1015 00:48:10,554 --> 00:48:14,124 and it has modern, next-generation detectors. 1016 00:48:14,124 --> 00:48:16,159 So basically these are the camera chips 1017 00:48:16,159 --> 00:48:18,729 that are capable of sensing the asteroids 1018 00:48:18,729 --> 00:48:20,364 at the wavelengths where they're really bright, 1019 00:48:20,364 --> 00:48:21,632 which is infrared. 1020 00:48:21,632 --> 00:48:24,534 - Perfect, well I have a social media question. 1021 00:48:24,534 --> 00:48:29,172 And we have gotten several about how things are named, 1022 00:48:29,172 --> 00:48:31,742 and I understand that you have been involved 1023 00:48:31,742 --> 00:48:34,411 in naming asteroids in the past, 1024 00:48:35,812 --> 00:48:38,548 after women who were very strong. 1025 00:48:39,917 --> 00:48:42,486 - You know one of the great privileges 1026 00:48:42,486 --> 00:48:45,689 of discovering the asteroids is that we do get to name them. 1027 00:48:45,689 --> 00:48:49,526 The discoverer has, the IAU allows us to propose names 1028 00:48:49,526 --> 00:48:52,195 and submit them and if they approve them, 1029 00:48:52,195 --> 00:48:53,730 then that's the name of the object. 1030 00:48:53,730 --> 00:48:55,832 There's some just really fantastic people out there 1031 00:48:55,832 --> 00:48:58,936 who I think deserve asteroid names. 1032 00:48:58,936 --> 00:49:00,203 - Give us some examples. 1033 00:49:00,203 --> 00:49:02,272 - Well, Malala was one, and actually 1034 00:49:02,272 --> 00:49:06,443 one of my colleagues, Dr Carrie Nugent, over at Cal Tech, 1035 00:49:06,443 --> 00:49:08,946 and I were talking about her and were just like 1036 00:49:08,946 --> 00:49:10,080 man she is amazing! 1037 00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:12,182 She needs an asteroid. (laughing) 1038 00:49:12,182 --> 00:49:15,018 - Well yes, that is a great perk. 1039 00:49:15,018 --> 00:49:16,553 Thank you so much, Amy. 1040 00:49:16,553 --> 00:49:17,955 - Thank you, Gay. 1041 00:49:19,056 --> 00:49:22,259 (upbeat techno music) 1042 00:49:36,740 --> 00:49:39,876 Okay, so what if we identify an object 1043 00:49:39,876 --> 00:49:42,646 that actually is headed our way? 1044 00:49:42,646 --> 00:49:44,815 NASA has to deal with that too. 1045 00:49:44,815 --> 00:49:48,285 Let's check in with NASA's Planetary Defense Officer, 1046 00:49:48,285 --> 00:49:50,287 Lindley Johnson and Kelly Fast, 1047 00:49:50,287 --> 00:49:54,291 Manager of the Near Earth Object Observation program. 1048 00:49:54,291 --> 00:49:57,327 So Lindley and Kelly, we have plenty of time right now, 1049 00:49:57,327 --> 00:50:00,864 and let's look at this step of the whole phase 1050 00:50:00,864 --> 00:50:02,199 that you have to deal with. 1051 00:50:02,199 --> 00:50:04,001 I mean first of all Kelly, 1052 00:50:04,001 --> 00:50:06,203 say an asteroid is headed for Earth, 1053 00:50:06,203 --> 00:50:08,338 would we tell the public about it? 1054 00:50:08,338 --> 00:50:12,175 People seem to really be concerned about that. 1055 00:50:13,310 --> 00:50:14,945 - Yes Gay, we would tell the public 1056 00:50:14,945 --> 00:50:18,048 because first of all the data are public. 1057 00:50:18,048 --> 00:50:19,983 The observations go to the Minor Planet Center, 1058 00:50:19,983 --> 00:50:22,552 the orbit determination shows up on the websites there, 1059 00:50:22,552 --> 00:50:24,921 and on the Center for Near Earth Object Studies. 1060 00:50:24,921 --> 00:50:26,690 So the information would be out there to begin with, 1061 00:50:26,690 --> 00:50:28,558 but first of all we'd want to a confirmation. 1062 00:50:28,558 --> 00:50:31,528 At NASA we'd want to work with our partners 1063 00:50:31,528 --> 00:50:33,530 in the International Asteroid Warning Network 1064 00:50:33,530 --> 00:50:37,267 to look at orbit determination and to look at 1065 00:50:37,267 --> 00:50:41,505 the risk of impact and the effects of the impact 1066 00:50:41,505 --> 00:50:43,673 and to make sure that everybody is on the same page, 1067 00:50:43,673 --> 00:50:44,641 or getting consistent answers. 1068 00:50:44,641 --> 00:50:46,109 To have that verification 1069 00:50:46,109 --> 00:50:48,845 so that the most accurate information is going out there. 1070 00:50:48,845 --> 00:50:52,449 And then also at NASA there is a notification procedure 1071 00:50:52,449 --> 00:50:55,485 in place where there would be a notification 1072 00:50:55,485 --> 00:50:58,422 that would go up through the NASA administrator 1073 00:50:58,422 --> 00:51:02,292 to the White House and on to other US agencies, 1074 00:51:03,660 --> 00:51:07,364 onto Congress, and also ultimately to other countries. 1075 00:51:09,399 --> 00:51:12,402 And so yes it wold become very public very quickly 1076 00:51:12,402 --> 00:51:13,637 and so we would just want to make sure 1077 00:51:13,637 --> 00:51:15,605 that it happens in the right and accurate way. 1078 00:51:15,605 --> 00:51:18,341 - Alright so people should be rest assured 1079 00:51:18,341 --> 00:51:22,179 that that information would never be withheld. 1080 00:51:24,414 --> 00:51:25,649 - Right, that's correct. 1081 00:51:25,649 --> 00:51:28,185 It really wouldn't because again, 1082 00:51:28,185 --> 00:51:29,719 the information is on websites, 1083 00:51:29,719 --> 00:51:31,655 and people with the right telescopes, 1084 00:51:31,655 --> 00:51:35,358 I mean the skies are open so they can look themselves. 1085 00:51:35,358 --> 00:51:37,694 - So the next question goes to Lindley, 1086 00:51:37,694 --> 00:51:41,531 what happens next, if you do see something 1087 00:51:41,531 --> 00:51:45,702 that appears to be, going to able to impact the Earth? 1088 00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:51,641 - Well Gay, that all depends on how big it is, 1089 00:51:51,641 --> 00:51:55,045 you already shown us an example of 2008 TC3, 1090 00:51:55,045 --> 00:51:57,214 a very small object, that we knew that 1091 00:51:57,214 --> 00:51:59,282 the Earth's atmosphere would protect us from it, 1092 00:51:59,282 --> 00:52:00,784 so we weren't too worried about it. 1093 00:52:00,784 --> 00:52:03,253 We just wanted to determine where it was going to impact, 1094 00:52:03,253 --> 00:52:06,323 what time, so we could go out and collect all the meteorites 1095 00:52:06,323 --> 00:52:09,359 as you saw because that's a very valuable 1096 00:52:09,359 --> 00:52:13,864 resource for the scientist to learn more about asteroids. 1097 00:52:13,864 --> 00:52:17,767 So it's kind of a free sample return, so to speak. 1098 00:52:17,767 --> 00:52:19,369 But if it's a larger object, 1099 00:52:19,369 --> 00:52:21,671 say a few tens of meters in size, 1100 00:52:21,671 --> 00:52:23,440 that's where we have to get 1101 00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:27,744 the other federal agencies involved and their counterparts 1102 00:52:27,744 --> 00:52:31,148 around the world to first of all, 1103 00:52:31,148 --> 00:52:35,619 determine where on the Earth it's going to impact, 1104 00:52:35,619 --> 00:52:37,654 so that we can alert them. 1105 00:52:37,654 --> 00:52:41,224 One thing about predicting asteroid impacts is 1106 00:52:41,224 --> 00:52:44,794 that we can determine precisely the time 1107 00:52:44,794 --> 00:52:46,096 that they're going to impact, 1108 00:52:46,096 --> 00:52:48,498 and with observations as it comes in, 1109 00:52:48,498 --> 00:52:52,369 we can determine a location very accurately too. 1110 00:52:52,369 --> 00:52:54,237 And so this is kind of a unique thing 1111 00:52:54,237 --> 00:52:58,208 for FEMA and the other emergency response community, 1112 00:52:58,208 --> 00:53:01,878 is that we can tell them the time and location 1113 00:53:01,878 --> 00:53:05,382 of a potential disaster before its gonna happen 1114 00:53:05,382 --> 00:53:08,718 so that was very valuable information for them 1115 00:53:08,718 --> 00:53:10,387 to prepare the area, 1116 00:53:11,488 --> 00:53:13,456 the community that might be affected by it 1117 00:53:13,456 --> 00:53:16,493 so that populations can be evacuated 1118 00:53:16,493 --> 00:53:18,495 and infrastructure locked down. 1119 00:53:18,495 --> 00:53:20,664 Now if it's bigger than that, 1120 00:53:20,664 --> 00:53:24,000 and this is actually our main objective at 1121 00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:26,503 the Planetary Defense Coordination Office 1122 00:53:26,503 --> 00:53:29,940 and all of the projects that we work with, 1123 00:53:29,940 --> 00:53:31,675 all that you have seen today, 1124 00:53:31,675 --> 00:53:35,212 is to find an object that is large enough 1125 00:53:35,212 --> 00:53:39,115 that it could affect a major metropolitan 1126 00:53:39,115 --> 00:53:43,653 or a statewide area, find it far enough out in time 1127 00:53:43,653 --> 00:53:47,357 that we have time to initiate a space mission 1128 00:53:47,357 --> 00:53:50,927 to go out an deflect it off of that impact trajectory. 1129 00:53:50,927 --> 00:53:55,098 So we are looking at various techniques and technologies 1130 00:53:56,700 --> 00:53:59,469 like a kinetic impactor or a gravity tractor, 1131 00:53:59,469 --> 00:54:02,305 that we could send out several years in advance 1132 00:54:02,305 --> 00:54:05,675 to prevent the impact in the first place. 1133 00:54:05,675 --> 00:54:08,511 - So let's take that as an example, 1134 00:54:08,511 --> 00:54:12,182 Kelly if there was something as big as a football stadium, 1135 00:54:12,182 --> 00:54:15,619 is that something that can be dealt with? 1136 00:54:17,287 --> 00:54:18,688 - Well actually I'm going to kick that one 1137 00:54:18,688 --> 00:54:21,791 to Lindley and let him address that. 1138 00:54:21,791 --> 00:54:24,194 - If Lindley if it's as big as a football stadium, 1139 00:54:24,194 --> 00:54:28,365 is that something that we have even thought about? 1140 00:54:29,566 --> 00:54:33,036 - Oh yes, that is the type of scenario 1141 00:54:33,036 --> 00:54:35,705 that we are mainly looking at, 1142 00:54:35,705 --> 00:54:39,209 because the most common hazardous asteroid 1143 00:54:43,246 --> 00:54:45,215 that we might have to face with 1144 00:54:45,215 --> 00:54:47,317 that we'd want to deflect in space 1145 00:54:47,317 --> 00:54:51,021 is the size of a few hundred meters or so, 1146 00:54:51,021 --> 00:54:54,691 and if we find it several years in advance 1147 00:54:54,691 --> 00:54:56,926 and are able to get space missions out to it, 1148 00:54:56,926 --> 00:55:01,498 an object of that size, we only have to change the speed 1149 00:55:01,498 --> 00:55:04,567 of the asteroid by a few centimeters per second, 1150 00:55:04,567 --> 00:55:07,170 and if we do that several years in advance, 1151 00:55:07,170 --> 00:55:11,341 it will not reach the same point in space as the Earth 1152 00:55:12,776 --> 00:55:14,911 at the predicted impact time, we will have slowed it down 1153 00:55:14,911 --> 00:55:17,013 and so the Earth will have already 1154 00:55:17,013 --> 00:55:18,181 passed that point in space. 1155 00:55:18,181 --> 00:55:19,449 So that is a principle that is used 1156 00:55:19,449 --> 00:55:23,586 in all of our various mitigation techniques. 1157 00:55:23,586 --> 00:55:26,990 So the kinetic impactor, we just hit it hard, 1158 00:55:26,990 --> 00:55:29,859 with a space craft that knocks off 1159 00:55:29,859 --> 00:55:34,431 a few inches per second speed in its velocity, 1160 00:55:34,431 --> 00:55:37,133 and causes it to be a miss instead of a hit. 1161 00:55:37,133 --> 00:55:40,503 The gravity tractor operates similarly, 1162 00:55:40,503 --> 00:55:43,106 in that the mutual attraction 1163 00:55:43,106 --> 00:55:46,509 between the space craft and the asteroid over time, 1164 00:55:46,509 --> 00:55:49,846 slowly, using nature's tug rope gravity, 1165 00:55:51,281 --> 00:55:53,950 slowly tugs that asteroid off of the impact trajectory 1166 00:55:53,950 --> 00:55:56,419 and then prevents it from impacting the Earth. 1167 00:55:56,419 --> 00:55:58,955 - So we have just a few minutes left, 1168 00:55:58,955 --> 00:56:03,026 if we could talk about that in our last three minutes. 1169 00:56:03,026 --> 00:56:06,796 The fact that asteroids are a natural hazard, 1170 00:56:08,398 --> 00:56:12,202 and from what we're hearing all throughout this program, 1171 00:56:12,202 --> 00:56:16,373 it's a natural hazard that appears to be preventable. 1172 00:56:18,875 --> 00:56:20,877 - Well that's very true. 1173 00:56:22,345 --> 00:56:25,515 It's one of the few natural hazards, natural disasters, 1174 00:56:25,515 --> 00:56:27,384 that we know how to prevent. 1175 00:56:27,384 --> 00:56:31,287 If we detect em far enough out into the future, 1176 00:56:33,690 --> 00:56:37,160 and so that is the objective of our program here at NASA, 1177 00:56:37,160 --> 00:56:38,962 is find em early, as we say. 1178 00:56:38,962 --> 00:56:41,598 - Alright, so one more question for Kelly. 1179 00:56:41,598 --> 00:56:43,500 If there were some key messages 1180 00:56:43,500 --> 00:56:47,203 that you would want out there to tell the public, 1181 00:56:47,203 --> 00:56:51,374 what would those key messages be, regarding asteroids? 1182 00:56:53,510 --> 00:56:56,079 - Well like we've been hearing over and over again 1183 00:56:56,079 --> 00:56:59,716 throughout the program, is that you want to find them, 1184 00:56:59,716 --> 00:57:02,085 find them early, find them first. 1185 00:57:02,085 --> 00:57:05,722 Then you can determine what the response might be, 1186 00:57:05,722 --> 00:57:06,956 but if you don't know they're there, 1187 00:57:06,956 --> 00:57:08,858 you're not going to know what to do about them. 1188 00:57:08,858 --> 00:57:11,494 However, at the same time, as I always tell people, 1189 00:57:11,494 --> 00:57:13,430 it's not something that we're lying awake at night 1190 00:57:13,430 --> 00:57:15,732 worrying about, I mean we're doing what we can 1191 00:57:15,732 --> 00:57:17,967 and there's more that needs to be done, 1192 00:57:17,967 --> 00:57:20,003 but when you put it in context, 1193 00:57:20,003 --> 00:57:22,071 we're hard at work here at NASA 1194 00:57:22,071 --> 00:57:25,175 and our colleagues all through the US and through the world, 1195 00:57:25,175 --> 00:57:26,876 they're working hard on the problem 1196 00:57:26,876 --> 00:57:30,346 but again, people shouldn't be worried and fearful 1197 00:57:30,346 --> 00:57:32,115 if we're working on it. 1198 00:57:32,115 --> 00:57:34,017 - And that's what I seem to be hearing. 1199 00:57:34,017 --> 00:57:38,188 It's possible to take a proactive stance in all of this, 1200 00:57:39,489 --> 00:57:42,459 that we do know that asteroids are out there, 1201 00:57:42,459 --> 00:57:46,062 we do know that they could pose a real hazard, 1202 00:57:46,062 --> 00:57:49,332 but what I'm hearing here is this is sort of 1203 00:57:49,332 --> 00:57:52,669 a proactive approach that if they're out there, 1204 00:57:52,669 --> 00:57:56,840 let's find them and then let's see what we're dealing with. 1205 00:57:58,808 --> 00:57:59,709 - Yes, Gay. 1206 00:58:00,877 --> 00:58:03,513 Because we have a space program, 1207 00:58:03,513 --> 00:58:08,418 we have the technologies to go out and be able to 1208 00:58:08,418 --> 00:58:11,488 move these small bodies in space now. 1209 00:58:12,655 --> 00:58:16,259 This is something that we can prevent. 1210 00:58:16,259 --> 00:58:18,261 We just need to have the 1211 00:58:21,064 --> 00:58:23,633 will to put the programs together, 1212 00:58:23,633 --> 00:58:28,471 to first of all find them well before the impacts, 1213 00:58:28,471 --> 00:58:31,641 and then have the capabilities demonstrated 1214 00:58:31,641 --> 00:58:35,044 that would be able to divert the objects. 1215 00:58:36,179 --> 00:58:37,514 - Thank you so much. 1216 00:58:37,514 --> 00:58:41,050 This was a very, very informative program, 1217 00:58:41,050 --> 00:58:43,152 and thank you so much for your information. 1218 00:58:43,152 --> 00:58:45,822 Here are the websites once again, 1219 00:58:45,822 --> 00:58:47,724 the Planetary Defense website, 1220 00:58:47,724 --> 00:58:49,559 the Minor Planet Center website, 1221 00:58:49,559 --> 00:58:51,127 and CNEOS. 1222 00:58:51,127 --> 00:58:52,896 Thank you so much for joining us, 1223 00:58:52,896 --> 00:58:54,030 I hope you learned something,