Here I am on my initial Zero-G flight on NASA's KC-135 "Vomit Comet" in 1991, with the thirteenth astronaut clas, the Hairballs. (NASA)

NASA has announced the start of the latest astronaut selection process, culminating next year in NASA’s choice of a new class of astronauts. NASA’s Kennedy Center Director, Bob Cabana, is a former astronaut and shuttle commander.

He relays a personal note on candidate qualifications:

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From: Bob Cabana

Subject: Astronaut Selection Process

Even as we prepare KSC to support human exploration beyond our home planet, NASA is still in the human space flight business, with a permanent crew on the International Space Station (ISS) until at least 2020.  That means NASA is going to continue to require astronauts to support ISS operations and provide crew support for development of the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) and the Space Launch System (SLS) Programs.   As you may have heard, NASA will begin accepting applications in early November for another astronaut class to provide that support.  We’ve had a number of folks from KSC selected in the past, and I would encourage you to apply if you’re at all interested.

Here are some of the basic qualifications:

• U.S. citizenship
• Education:  Undergraduate degree in engineering, physical or biological science, or math (may be computer science)
• Experience:
  • Non-Pilot – 3 years of professional experience (this means after your qualifying degree, and it must be technical—graduate degrees may be substituted for experience)
  • Pilot – 1,000 hours of flying time in jet aircraft
• Ability to pass NASA flight physical; some specifics:
  • Distant and near visual acuity must be correctable to 20/20
  • Blood pressure not to exceed 140/90 in a sitting position
  • Standing height between 62 and 75 inches (have to meet anthropometric requirements of a Soyuz capsule)

Competition is within the following discipline groups:

• Non-Pilot
  • Physical Sciences
  • Biological Sciences
  • Engineering/Operations
  • Flight Test Engineering
  • Education
• Pilot
  • No further breakdown

Here’s a link to more information on the selection process:  http://astronauts.nasa.gov/content/timeline.htm

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I can tell you this is the best job I have ever had. And the chance to work with the other astronauts is reward enough, even if one were never to fly in space!

Good luck!

Tom Jones

www.AstronautTomJones.com

Mercury 7 astronauts in 1961. Glenn and Carpenter (front row, right) are the two surviving Mercury astronauts. Both flew in 1962.

Carpenter and Glenn lecture: NASM, June 23, 2011

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX-ayUlNPMs

Glenn noted how keenly he and Carpenter missed the other five Mercury astronauts, no longer with us. Attending this lecture was a rare privilege. I hope many will take this opportunity to enjoy this discussion, and attend a future lecture by this duo. Both were my heroes when I was growing up.

Highlights:

• Glenn – used manual control for last two orbits, after auto thruster failure. Thus too busy to do much science work.

• Carpenter – ate radioactive food for metabolism studies: Can the body process food while in free-fall? (Yes)

• Glenn – Mercury had no computers aboard

. • Glenn – false indication of loose heat shield led to re-entry with retropack still attached, causing flaming chunks of molten metal to whip past his window. Was it the heat shield coming apart? • Carpenter – the heat shield was designed to be jettisoned when the main chute opened, hanging by straps below a canvas bag that acted as an air cushion when the capsule hit the water. This false indication of the air bag being deployed was what caused flight controllers to worry that Glenn’s heat shield was compromised.

• Carpenter – his reentry was colorful due to all the ionized gases thrown off from the ablating heat shield.

• Carpenter – it was great to see the main parachute open!

• Carpenter – learning is fun whether in space or underwater. Enjoyed his SeaLab experience after Mercury.

• Glenn – George W. Bush allotted NASA no new money for the new Constellation lunar program, expecting it would come from ending shuttle and space station. OMB gave NASA no relief, and no new dollars.

I still treasure my copy of “Americans Into Orbit,” from 1964.

Tom Jones

www.AstronautTomJones.com

Tom Jones at work outside the International Space Station during STS-98, February 2001.

Although astronauts can’t hear external sounds in the vacuum of space (there is no “sound” in a vacuum – nothing to transmit vibrations), we can hear plenty of noises inside the spacesuit. Radio headphones crackle with conversations from Houston and the shuttle and station crews. Turning one’s head creates a rustle of communication cables rubbing against the helmet ring. The backpack suit fan blows a gentle breeze from behind the neck. Sound does conduct through the hard fittings of the suit: locking or unlocking a tool from the chest mini-workstation makes an audible click. Latching tethers onto the hip rings, or sliding a power tool into its “holster” on the workstation causes that sliding or tapping sound into the suit. But I don’t recall the suit itself creating sounds: it’s flexible enough to move and bend, and so is not as taut as a drum that might make a noise. The joint motors driving the robot arm are slow-moving and silent, so overall, the predominant impression in the suit is blessed quiet, compared to the constant white noise and clamor of activity and voices inside the shuttle cabin.

Tom Jones, STS-59-68-80-98

www.AstronautTomJones.com

You can be sure I’ll be commenting on this very good Mike Ramirez cartoon:

Cartoonist Mike Ramirez, June 2, 2011.

www.AstronautTomJones.com

Take a look at the new videos from the Coalition for Space Exploration. Spread the word about the benefits of space exploration and the need for an ambitious U.S. space program outside the space community, to our fellow citizens. Thanks to the Coalition for continuing to underline the importance of investing in our future.

Coalition Videos

Astronauts should prospect nearby asteroids for valuable water, iron, nickel, and rare platinum group metals for use in new space industries. It's a job for a new Corps of Discovery.

My article appeared on May 24, 2011, in Popular Mechanics online. Thanks to my editors for publishing the piece and allowing me to run it here.

This week six astronauts aboard space shuttle Endeavour are knocking its last mission to the International Space Station (ISS) out of the park. In July, Atlantis’s final flight will bring down the curtain on NASA’s 30-year shuttle program. However, when Atlantis’s crew calls “wheels stop, Houston!” for the final time, many Americans will be startled to find that the nation has no replacement rocket that can launch astronauts to the ISS, 220 miles up. Fifty years ago tomorrow, John F. Kennedy committed the nation to reaching the moon within a decade. But soon we’ll be unable to reach the space station we largely built and paid for without help.

Until roughly 2015, when American companies hope to produce a commercial rocket and spacecraft that can carry NASA’s crews safely and economically, astronauts will be renting rides on the Russian Soyuz vehicle (at $55 million per seat and climbing). The fact that presidents and congresses have seen this gap coming and failed to close it is a significant gamble, and not just because it’s unclear whether commercial spaceflight will be ready to deliver crews by the 2015 target. NASA has no backup: If the new space startups can’t make a profit on flying astronauts and other customers to orbit, they will hang up the out-of-business sign and walk away. We’d be forced to buy Russian seats indefinitely while starting an expensive crash program to regain access to the ISS.

Once we find a way to reach the station, we face another gap—one of vision. Between now and 2020, the Obama administration proposes nothing more ambitious for the nation in space than operating the ISS in low Earth orbit, where we have been mired since 1972. The president’s single mention last year of a 2025 mission to a nearby asteroid has not led to firm NASA program plans, realistic milestones or funding. This space-policy muddle is already having serious negative effects. NASA is letting go thousands of skilled engineers, technicians and scientists who made the shuttle a success and built the space station. As they scatter to other industries, the nation loses an irreplaceable resource. Congress stepped in and directed NASA to build a rocket and deep space craft, but senators and representatives are not paid to do rocket science. Only the president can propose and execute a coherent policy for space exploration.

To fill this vacuum in space policy, the president should chart a vigorous, well-funded exploration path that finally returns American explorers to deep space, with the twin goals of scientific exploration and the creation of a commercial, space-based economy. Astronauts should lead the way out of Earth orbit by 2020, using a new heavy-lift booster and deep-space craft that will serve the nation for at least the next two decades. Commercial competition can help to create an innovative design, but this is a job for NASA. To see a project of such scale realized, the government will have to fund it.

After tests in lunar orbit, astronauts should embark on a series of voyages to nearby asteroids that are rich in water and other resources. Robot explorers like the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have already found water near the lunar poles, and ground-based telescopes, along with recovered meteorites, tell us that some nearby asteroids harbor minerals comprising as much as 20 percent water. Asteroids are also rich in iron, nickel, rare platinum group metals, and industrial catalysts. Following up discoveries by robot prospectors, astronauts could tap these space natural resources and demonstrate methods to produce water, structural materials and energy to fuel off-Earth industries.

NASA’s mission will not just grow our economy, but also invigorate scientific discovery: The experience and resources derived from asteroids and our moon will lay the foundation for eventual expeditions to the moons and surface of Mars. And it could even lead to the technologies that will protect our society from the threat of a future asteroid impact. This pursuit will drive technological innovation for decades, spurring our high-tech economy and, like President Kennedy’s declaration, inspiring new generations of young scientists, engineers and explorers.

Can we afford it? We’d be foolish not to invest in space. During Apollo, spurred by the Cold War, we spent nearly 5 percent of the annual federal budget on space, winning the space race and sparking a technological revolution. But NASA’s budget has been shrinking for two decades; today, it is just over half a percent of annual spending. The Augustine Committee in 2009 recommended that we commit to a human spaceflight program “worthy of a great nation,” estimating NASA would need only an additional $3 billion above the current $19 billion annually to launch America on voyages into deep space. That would still be less than 0.6 percent of the federal budget, an affordable investment to open this frontier and ensure our technological leadership in the 21st century.

As we debate America’s future in space, we should look for leaders who will build on the shuttle’s success, set ambitious goals and commit the resources to achieve them. Great nations are exploring nations. America’s explorer-entrepreneurs are just waiting for the word “Go!”

Tom Jones is a planetary scientist, veteran astronaut, speaker and author. He flew on four space shuttle missions and helped build the International Space Station. His website is astronauttomjones.com. Email: skywalking1@gmail.com

On Friday I’ll be appearing on Fox News for launch commentary for the STS-124 Endeavour launch, at 3:47 pm EDT.

www.AstronautTomJones.com

NASA STS-131 Launch

Not a flying saucer. This is Wakeshield Facility 3, one of the satellites we launched and retrieved from Columbia on STS-80 during Nov. 1996. Columbia was soaring 220 miles over Mexico's Baja peninsula. (NASA STS080-708-065)

During the week of April 11, 2011, the FBI released some of its investigation records on UFOs. The reports reflect the reality that people do see unexplained phenomena in the sky. Are these sightings evidence for intelligent life elsewhere, or some secret flight testing program?

Much UFO speculation in the past has focused on one of my shuttle missions, STS-80, flown in late 1996. Some have maintained that video shot during this Columbia space shuttle flight provides evidence for unknown objects moving in the night sky. I have reviewed this video (for the first time in 1997), and conclude that it shows commonplace and well-known objects near the shuttle, all of them observed on every shuttle flight. These videos show low-light television camera images of ice particles or man-made debris drifting out of Columbia’s cargo bay, and floating in the vicinity of the shuttle, likely within a few tens of feet of the orbiter.

I have seen these snippets of STS-80 video many times since our flight. These video scenes were recorded by remote control, under ground command, with flight controllers in Houston’s Mission Control operating our low-light TV camera in the cargo bay. As far as I remember, nobody on the crew was looking out the window at these ice crystals or debris particles. Nobody thought anything that our crew observed out the window was of “alien” origin, or something not connected to the shuttle’s routine operations (e.g. a large rotating disk or any such unusual structure). Once you understand what the solar illumination conditions are (orbital twilight, with darkness below and sunlight at our altitude), it’s easy to conclude that the video shows normal small ice and debris particles drifting aimlessly away from the orbiter, with some pieces becoming sunlit as they move out of the shuttle’s shadow. During our science operations, robotic satellite deployments and grapples, and robot arm tests and exercises, we routinely noticed these ice particles and debris catching the brilliant sunlight outside. But these sightings were non-events for us, as we understood what we were seeing completely.

Both the flight crew and Mission Control are always attentive to particles seen outside the windows, or on payload bay cameras. Such sightings could be clues to spacecraft problems, such as a vital piece of equipment that has shaken loose. Those sightings need to be reported ASAP and openly discussed — is it a fuel leak, or a piece off the rudder, or damage to the TPS (tiles), or other bad news? Crewmembers and flight controllers have no reason to ever keep it secret or to keep these discussions off normal radio channels.

Aside from details of specific Defense Department payloads and their deployments, astronauts have no classification regulations or rules preventing anyone from discussing anything they’ve seen or experienced on space flights. No secret non-disclosure signatures, no secret threats, no secret brainwashing–we communicate openly with the public. What we get, you get. What we see that’s unusual, we tell you about.

I have spent many hours gazing out the shuttle windows during my 53 days in orbit, under all lighting and orbiter attitude conditions. The objects seen in the STS-80 videos are ordinary debris particles or ice crystals, some hit by shuttle thruster blasts that cause a change in their motion. Local lighting conditions also change the brightness of some objects as they drift into or out of shadow. I have never seen any evidence in space or on Earth of spacecraft or phenomena not explained by our routine space operations in the shuttle or Space Station programs. My crewmates and I have not seen any evidence for UFOs or spacecraft of “alien” origin or behavior. The STS-80 videos are records of normal space shuttle operations and optical phenomena.

It is regrettable that so many spaceflight-minded young people have their enthusiasms exploited by misinterpretations of such shuttle videos. These inaccurate theories about what the videos show–some naive, some possibly deliberately misleading–waste a great deal of productive energy. Insisting that astronauts have seen alien vehicles is incorrect: a deliberate falsehood. This myth wastes years of healthy curiosity and diverts it to pseudo-scientific wild goose chases, and is a disservice to the fantastic and dedicated work done in orbit by Space Station and shuttle crews, and their support team on Earth. Those still arguing about non-existent UFOs seen by space shuttle crews are wasting their time. Worse, they are misleading young explorers who don’t deserve to miss out on the genuine thrills and wonder of the spaceflight experience, its importance for the advancement of our species, and our understanding of the home planet and our universe.

Tom Jones, PhD

Planetary Scientist

Astronaut on STS-59, -68, -80, and -98

Author of Sky Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir, and Planetology: Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar System.

www.AstronautTomJones.com

HOMECOMING 2/6 MARINES, FOX COMPANY, January 4, 2011

To understand the ending of the story, I have to begin at the beginning.  In June, our family made a marathon round-trip to Camp LeJeune, NC to bid farewell to our son Josh, a Lance Corporal with the 2^nd Battalion, 6^th Marines, who was deploying to Afghanistan.  We arrived a scant 90 minutes before departure, barely enough time to hug him one last time, tell him how proud we were of him, to reassure him (and ourselves) that he would be back before too long.  I think it was the first time I truly realized how scared he was, how terrified I was.  As hard as it was to say goodbye to him, it was almost harder to see the Marines saying goodbye to their children, their pregnant wives, the babies who would be celebrating their first Christmas without their dad.  One Marine dad sat on the ground and played one last time with his young son. The families stood in the parking lot as the buses pulled out, waving until they were out of sight. And then a new family formed…a family of those left behind. We hugged, we cried, we gave words of encouragement and strength, we exchanged names, email addresses, and phone numbers.  After a bit we were able to tear ourselves away and head home.

As the months crept by we heard infrequently from our Marines, but as soon as one of us did, the word was passed. It didn’t matter that they were in different companies, different parts of Marjah, different jobs. One of our own was heard from, and we celebrated. Facebook became a lifeline for us. Like all families, we mourned each combat loss, celebrated each new member of the 2/6 family added by birth, consoled those whose Marine was injured, shared news about travels and illness.  Life went on here in the States, and the family formed in that parking lot was there for support.

In November we were given tentative arrival dates. Each company was assigned a three to five day window; Fox Company was due January 4 – 7. Excitement began to build, a flurry of information about travel arrangements and hotels was exchanged, welcome home banners ordered, and the countdown began. The days dragged on, the holidays came and went without too much celebration. On January 2, we got our 48 hour confirmed notice; Fox Company was due to arrive onboard Camp LeJeune Tuesday, 4  January at 1930 hours.  It was time to head back to North Carolina.  It was time to welcome our Marine home.   I think that Monday was 100 hours long! The students in my classes kept asking me what was wrong…I couldn’t sit still, I couldn’t concentrate…I now have a better understanding of ADHD!

We left home at five in the morning on the fourth, seven hours later we were at the hotel in Jacksonville. We headed over to the base mid-afternoon; I had seven cases of Girl Scout Cookies and a huge carton of donated candy to deliver for the reception. We grabbed something to eat at the Commissary, found the rest of our family and friends who had made the trip, and headed over to the Field House. It was time to meet all those wonderful people I had met via the internet, and to say hello again to those I had met in June.  Welcome Home signs hung from the bleachers, and the excitement and anticipation was almost palpable.  Little ones played on the gym floor, wives clustered together, parents found each other and chatted, other Marines came in, many of them wounded, and waited with us for word that Fox Company was on the ground at Cherry Point, and enroute back to LeJeune.  Around 6, cell phones began to ring, word began to spread as more and more of the Marines were calling their wives, their dads, moms, girlfriends…they were on the ground and headed back. Except they were still a good 90 minutes away, and they would first have to go to the Armory to turn in their serialized gear and weapons. The Marines would then march from the Armory to the Field House. The excitement continued to build and the wait became more and more unbearable.

Finally, after hours of waiting, we heard they were at the Armory and then the announcement we were waiting for was made. If quite could be loud, it was. A silence fell over the Field House as the moments of waiting drew to a close.  But it was a loud silence…maybe it was all the excited breathing, maybe it was the pounding of all our hearts, maybe it was the sound of joy. The doors swung open and in single file Fox Company began to march in. The roar of the crowd, the applause, all suddenly faded as I glimpsed Joshua coming through the door. I remember saying to someone the next day that it was like giving birth as he emerged into the Field House. I remember bursting into tears. I remember jumping up and down and whispering his name.  As the Marines continued to come through the door, I again became aware of the noise, but I could not take my eyes from Josh. As the last Marine entered and stood in formation, the Company Commander (I think) made some brief remarks (I think it had something to do with the mission) and then, I swear, he dismissed the company. I bolted for Josh only to be stopped, because they had not been dismissed. Instead, all the members of Fox gathered around their leader, and they toasted the Marines who were not going to be coming home. Each of them popped open a beer they had been handed just before coming in to the Field House, and drank in memory of their fallen brothers. If there had been a dry eye in that building up until that point, there wasn’t any longer.

The Marines were then dismissed, and I took off again. I got to Josh first, followed by other members of the family, and then his friends. I could not stop touching him. After Josh checked in to his new quarters, and I realized that none of the “civvies” we brought him would fit (he said they had nothing else to do but work out), we went out to dinner…it was, by now, 11pm.  At the restaurant, following a Marine tradition, the family presented the now Corporal Gaither with his new NCO Ceremonial Sword. Eventually we found our way back to the hotel and ended what had been a very long, very emotional day.

Almost three weeks later, I find myself still moved to tears by different things. We had delayed fully enjoying the secular aspect of Christmas until Josh began leave. I ordered a Welcome Home Cake with the Marine Corps logo on it. When I went to pick it up, I placed the cake in the bottom of the cart and went about shopping. One man passed me by and said “Semper Fi”. I was too stunned to respond. Another man stopped and asked about the cake. I explained and he said “tell your son thank you. Not many are willing to make that sacrifice so I can live in this wonderful country, and enjoy what we have here. And thank you for giving your son to us.” Then, as I was leaving the store, the guy who checks your cart and receipt asked me if my son had just gotten out of the Marines. I again explained that he had just returned from Afghanistan. The man reached over, hugged me and said “tell him a Vietnam Veteran says I’m glad he made it back and thank you.” After thanking him, I left the store in tears. I hide my tears from Josh when he offers up a short recounting of what he’s been through, what he’s seen. He has talked about bullets hitting the ground near his feet, about a buddy hit in the neck, a child who was shot. He talks about how they killed an animal purchased from a local farmer so the Marines could have something fresh to eat, how they couldn’t drink the water, how the children begged for food. He mentions the school that the Marines built and opened and how the girls wouldn’t go in to it, he talks about the irrigation ditches they had to jump over, how their feet were always wet. And he pulls out of his belongings a pile of small stuffed animals that people sent, and that he kept them to remind him of what he’d done, where he’d been, and how great it was that strangers remembered them.

Our journey with the Marine Corps will probably end in June, unless Josh decides to re-enlist. For many reasons I think it would be a good thing for him to stay in, but I know that would, most likely, mean another combat deployment. I don’t know if I want to go through that again, I do know I will miss being part of a unique family. Semper Fi.

By Elaine Swierszcz  Gaither

****

I’m so glad that Josh and his colleagues are “watching our six”! Thank you for sharing this story, Elaine.

Comet Tempel 1, as seen by NASA's Stardust/NEXT probe on 2-15-11 (NASA JPL)

Today I represented the Association of Space Explorers in presenting a status report on international efforts to deal with the Near-Earth Object impact hazard. Here are my remarks from Vienna, Austria, and the Science & Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Statement by the Association of Space Explorers

Forty-eighth Session of the United Nations COPUOS Science and Technical Subcommittee

Vienna, Austria

15 February 2011

Mr. Chairman, I thank you and the distinguished delegates and guests for this opportunity to bring you an Association of Space Explorers report on recent progress in confronting the global hazard due to Near-Earth Objects, or NEOs. The ASE is the global professional society of more than 375 space fliers, astronauts and cosmonauts, representing 35 nations.

Today I will review the proposed decision-making process submitted to the COPUOS in early 2009, summarize the results of the most recent workshop examining how one of the proposed international “functional groups” — the Mission Planning and Operations Group — dealing with hazardous NEOs might operate, and cite future opportunities for international cooperation in creating a global capability to prevent a future damaging asteroid or comet impact on Earth.

We congratulate the U.S.A’s NASA for its successful encounter with comet Tempel 1 early this morning. NASA furnished this comparison of Tempel 1 images taken by the Deep Impact spacecraft in 2005 and the Stardust-NEXT spacecraft this morning. These images and the spacecraft performance demonstrate our growing capability to explore small bodies and NEOs, and show how we might operate spacecraft around a hazardous NEO as part of a future deflection campaign.

2010 saw exciting successes in expanding our knowledge of NEOs, and we commend the respective space agencies on their progress. NASA’s Spaceguard survey found earlier this month an example of the many small asteroids which approach our Earth. Asteroid 2011 CQ11 was found by the Catalina Sky Survey just 14 hours before passing within 5500 km of Earth on Feb. 4. Although CQ11 was just a meter wide and would have been merely a spectacular fireball in our skies, it represents about a million small asteroids larger than some 30 m, capable of penetrating our atmosphere and causing damage on the ground. We have discovered only a fraction of one percent of those objects with a damage potential comparable to the 1908 Tunguska impact.

The prospect of such damaging impacts led ASE in 2007 to propose an international decision-making process for future threatening NEOs. Our Panel on Asteroid Threat Mitigation met in 2007-2008 to draft such a process, described in our ASE report, “Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response” (2008, see website: http://space-explorers.org/committees/NEO/neo.htm). The decision-making process is meant to be in place in advance of the discovery of a future threatening NEO. In considering a global response to the asteroid hazard, we described a set of three functional groups, to be endorsed by the United Nations, as shown in the following diagram.

(Credit ASE)

The ASE report details the work of these functional entities:

The Information, Analysis, and Warning network searches for and catalogs NEOs, then analyzes their orbits for potential threats to Earth. The network would issue a warning of those NEOs that pose a serious collision hazard with Earth, enabling a timely international response. Elements of the IAWN are already in place through the NASA Spaceguard program, its JPL, the Italian/Spanish NEODyS program, the Minor Planet Center, and through the cooperation of existing and planned ground-  and satellite-based observation systems.

The Mission Planning and Operations group would conduct detailed studies, in advance, of possible impact scenarios and planetary defense missions. Planning would include cost estimates and identification of research and technology objectives for the NEO programs of the various space agencies.

Finally, a proposed Mission Authorization and Oversight group, comprised by member states and approved by the United Nations at the Security Council level, would approve international planetary defense campaigns in response to a specific asteroid threat. This group would also work with the MPOG and IAWN to oversee the multi-year effort to successfully deflect a hazardous NEO.

The ASE report was formally submitted to COPUOS in 2009, and has formed a basis for the discussions of its NEO Working Group and its Action Team 14. Meetings of the Working Group and Action Team have as an objective the drafting of an eventual agreement on NEO decision-making for consideration and adoption by the General Assembly, assuring that the world community has in place an effective process for predicting and diverting a future asteroid collision. To further this goal, the ASE has helped co-sponsor and plan several workshops among member states’ respective space agency representatives.

Our capable partners, shown here, convened a workshop to discuss the functions of the IAWN a year ago, in Mexico City, and another to discuss the responsibilities and functions of the MPOG in Darmstadt, Germany, last October.

The Executive Summary of the Mission Planning and Operations group workshop (available at the ASE website, http://space-explorers.org/committees/neo/mpog.pdf) summarized the role of this functional group.

The workshop participants reached five major findings concerning establishment and operation of an MPOG:

1.      An MPOG-like group should be established by the world’s space agencies

2.      The MPOG should identify to space agencies the technical issues to be explored for planetary defense. This information would create synergies among international programs and activities, e.g. in planetary defense, science, and exploration

3.      The MPOG should propose NEO research objectives to guide space agencies, addressing critical questions needed for effective NEO deflection strategies

4.      The participants recognized the value of finding hazardous NEOs as early as possible:

a.       to make timely identification of possible threats

b.      to obtain precision tracking of NEO orbits to enable decision-making on possible deflection

c.       to avert the costs of future deflection missions by ruling out collisions with Earth by threatening objects

Participants noted that early identification will be possible only with more advanced ground- and space-based systems. An example of this kind of search system is the proposed space-based IR telescope, possibly in a Venus-like orbit, to enable rapid surveys of the NEO population. Such a system could identify 90% of objects 140 m and larger in a period of 7-8 years.

Addressing the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space session in Vienna on Feb. 15, 2011 (courtesy Secure World Foundation)

The MPOG workshop was an important first step toward defining the role of a Mission Planning and Operations Group, just one of those necessary to deal comprehensively with NEO threats. This body should encourage the member states, and their space agencies, working through AT14 to approve the establishment of the IAWN and MPOG. With COPUOS endorsement, both bodies should get on with the active business of identifying asteroid hazards and planning for future deflection missions, supported by the space-faring countries and interested nations.

Formation of a Mission Authorization and Oversight group should be addressed by multi-lateral discussions among the member states’ space agencies and representatives, with a view toward establishing authority for NEO decision-making and deflection efforts. These discussions should include both diplomatic and space agencies’ technical representatives. Together with the MAOG discussions, member states should voluntarily collaborate in their NEO research programs and space missions to obtain the necessary technical data to inform the decision-making process, and enable development of effective planetary defense technologies and operations techniques. An early meeting to discuss the role of an MAOG should be convened by world space agencies.

The ASE notes the encouraging efforts within space agencies to organize their resources for planetary defense. Two ASE members co-chaired in 2010 the NASA Advisory Council ad hoc Task Force on Planetary Defense. That task force delivered its recommendations in October 2010; they were endorsed by the Advisory Council and sent to NASA’s administrator, Gen. Charles Bolden.

The major recommendations stated that NASA should organize to conduct planetary defense, search for the NEO population that could threaten Earth, characterize a range of NEOs to confirm our ground-based estimates of composition and physical properties, develop the technology to respond to a threatening NEO, and exercise leadership in national and international planetary defense efforts. The full report can be found at the website shown:   http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/490945main_10-10_TFPD.pdf

The Task Force, for example, recommended that NASA fly as soon as possible a space infrared telescope in a Venus-like orbit that can rapidly survey the NEO population. It also recommended that NASA investigate small, inexpensive search systems that detect 50 m-sized asteroids just a week before they approach or impact the Earth. Although these proposed systems cannot find distant NEOs, they have greater sky coverage than existing telescopes and thus can find about 60% of the smaller objects that closely approach or impact Earth, providing a few days or weeks of warning. [see www.fallingstar.com] Such a system would routinely detect objects like 2008 TC3, which struck the atmosphere over Sudan in October 2008.

The Task Force also recommended that future NEO exploration missions and technology development should lead directly to an international deflection demonstration mission, one that would change the orbit of a non-hazardous NEO as part of a mature capability to defend Earth from a collision.

In conclusion, the ASE recognizes the substantial progress made to date in dealing with the NEO hazard. Scientific discoveries have been accompanied by useful progress in outlining an international decision-making process under U.N. auspices. There is wide agreement that the global nature of the NEO hazard calls for an international response in terms of search and warning, mission planning, deflection authorization, and actual execution of a deflection campaign.

ASE respectfully calls on the COPUOS and the international community, especially its member states’ space agencies, to approve the immediate activation of the IAWN and MPOG functional groups, getting on with the important business of NEO warning and deflection mission planning. A future damaging impact is a certainty unless we complete the process of developing, in advance, an effective decision-making strategy and mature deflection technologies. As our 2008 report states:

“We are no longer passive victims of the impact process. We cannot shirk the responsibility to prevent or mitigate impacts wherever possible.”

The Association of Space Explorers, with its global, space-tested membership, will assist future COPUOS action to meet this responsibility. We will work to educate policy makers, to communicate the seriousness of the asteroid hazard to the public, and to encourage an effective international response. The Association is tremendously excited to be involved in seizing this timely opportunity to safeguard Earth and benefit humanity.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting me to address the distinguished delegates and guests today.

Thomas D. Jones, PhD

Chair, ASE Committee on Near-Earth Objects

[These remarks are available at our Association website, www.space-explorers.org]

***

www.AstronautTomJones.com