Tag: B612

Whistling Past the Graveyard of Asteroid Detection

Whistling Past the Graveyard of Asteroid Detection

Early last week, news media reported that NASA has terminated its Space Act Agreement with the B612 Foundation due its failure to meet specified milestones, namely beginning development of the $350-$450 million Sentinel mission. B612 was founded by former astronauts Ed Lu and Rusty Schweickert, for the purpose of raising awareness about asteroid defense by funding […]

Deep Impact: NASA OIG Report Demolishes Asteroid Detection Program

Deep Impact: NASA OIG Report Demolishes Asteroid Detection Program

Rarely, if ever, has a NASA OIG report been this direct: “We found that NASA has organized its NEO Program under a single Program Executive who manages a loosely structured conglomerate of research activities that are not well integrated and lack an overarching framework with Program oversight, objectives, and established milestones to track progress.” “NASA […]

Posted in: Asteroids, NASA
As NASA Dithers, the Boldly Go Institute Plans Mars Sample Return

As NASA Dithers, the Boldly Go Institute Plans Mars Sample Return

The quickly expanding list of privately funded space ventures added a new name this week, The Boldly Go Institute, and its goals are worthy of the name.  Headlined by Dr. Jon Morse, Dr. Laurie Leshin and Dr. Scott Parazynski, all NASA veterans, the institute seeks to step in where NASA is falling short with big […]

Apophis Passes in the Night

Apophis Passes in the Night

Source: NASA, ESA For a students of ancient Egyptian religion (and who isn’t), Apophis is the Greek name give to the evil god Apep,  often represented as a serpent.  As the mortal enemy of Ra, the sun god and bringer of light,  Apep battled to bring darkness and chaos to the world. To later generations of course, and fans of […]

Stars Fell on Alabama

Stars Fell on Alabama

Source : Al.com Huntsville and north Alabama have always played a key role in sending people and machines into space, and apparently space is trying to return the favor.  On the evening of October 30th, at 5:30 PM, a sonic boom and fireball northwest of Cullman, Al signalled the arrival of meteor substantial enough to be tracked by doppler radar.  Now a team of 6 […]

Killer Asteroids, Martian Pizza and the Future of Big Ticket Exploration

Killer Asteroids, Martian Pizza and the Future of Big Ticket Exploration

Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn (R) recently released an annual  “Waste Book” detailing specific examples of perceived waste in the federal spending. As might be expected, NASA was not immune,  being tagged for spending  just under a million dollars on a Cornell University study which involves sending volunteers to a Mars simulation event in Hawaii to test the […]

B612 Foundation Announces First Private Deep Space Telescope

B612 Foundation Announces First Private Deep Space Telescope

Thursday morning, the B612 foundation will formally announce a mission to launch the first privately funded science mission to deep space, a telescope launched into solar orbit and tasked with searching the inner solar system for Near Earth Asteroids. The goal is to identify and map the trajectories of NEA’s in the inner solar system to […]

π