NEOShield: Protecting Earth from impact threats

NASA Near-Earth Asteroid Mission Concept Video

Animation Credit: NASA

NEOShield is a new international consortium to address impact threats to Earth, and to organize, prepare and implement mitigation measures. Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) have hit our planet in the past and are widely believed to have been responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. The primary aim of NEOShield is to investigate in detail the three most promising asteroid threat-reduction techniques: kinetic impactors, gravity tractors, and the explosive blast-deflection method.

The European Commission is providing a significant amount of funding to support the initiative. The undertaking consists of research institutes, universities and industrial partners in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain, as well as in the U.S. and Russia.

Read more about NEOShield on Space.com.

Posted by: Soderman/NLSI Staff
Source: http://www.space.com/14370-asteroid-shield-earth-threat-protection-meeting.html