Target Earth: How Prepared Are We for Another Tunguska?
100th Anniversary of Vast Explosion in Siberia
Speaking:
US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, 46th District of California
Louis Friedman, Executive Director, The Planetary Society
Bruce Betts, Director of Projects, The Planetary Society
Alan W. Harris, Senior Research Scientist, Space Science Institute
Don Yeomans, Manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Monday, June 30, 2008
Time: 11:00 AM
Place: The Planetary Society, 65 N Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA
A fireball from the sky exploded over the forest near Siberia’s Podkamennaya Tunguska River 100 years ago today. The blast leveled 2000 square kilometers of trees, flattening them like matchsticks. Imagine what would happen if a similar object from space – probably an asteroid – exploded over one of Earth’s cities today.
Join us at a press conference hosted by The Planetary Society that will feature representatives from the government, science and space advocacy outlining the threat that near-Earth objects pose to the world today and what we can do to make our planet safer.
* See images of a vast Siberian forest leveled.
* Discover what a similar explosion would do to a city like Los Angeles or New York today.
* Learn what’s happening in Congress regarding saving the world’s largest radiotelescope, Arecibo, to help track near-Earth objects.
* Hear what steps we are taking, and still need to take, to make our world safer from impact threats.
Participants will be available for questions during the press conference and private interviews following it. Please RSVP or call Susan Lendroth for more details, 626-793-5100 ext 237 or susan.lendroth@planetary.org.
