Jeff Foust reports on the House hearing on Tuesday about the threat of asteroid impacts on earth: NASA to Congress: don’t “pour money” into NEO programs – Space Politics.
And here are a couple of items about a Senate hearing on Wednesday about the same issue:
- Better Asteroid Detection Needed, Experts Tell Senate Panel – NYTimes.com
- Asteroids: Senator at space-threat hearing calls Bruce Willis as backup post Russian meteor – latimes.com
Update: Stephen C. Smith (Space KSC blog) has posted videos of both hearings:
* March 20, 2013 – the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Science and Space held a hearing titled, “Assessing the Risks, Impacts, and Solutions for Space Threats.” The invited witnesses were:
- Dr. James Green, Director, Planetary Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Dr. Ed Lu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer B612 Foundation
- Mr. Richard DalBello, Vice President, Legal and Government Affairs, Intelsat General
- Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese, Professor, National Security Affairs, U.S. Naval War College
* March 19, 2013, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing titled, “Threats from Space: A Review of U.S. Government Efforts to Track and Mitigate Asteroids and Meteors, Part 1.”
Invited witnesses were:
- John P. Holdren, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President
- Gen. William L. Shelton, Commander, U.S. Air Force Space Command
- Charles F. Bolden, Jr., Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration