First 24-hour Global Broadcast About Asteroid Impact Hazard



by Staff Writers



London, UK (SPX) Jun 02, 2017



On June 30, asteroids will make history as the focus of a conversation shared around the world on the first ever global 24-hour broadcast about space and the role of asteroids in our solar system.

Asteroid Day LIVE, produced by Asteroid Day and sponsored by OHB, BCE and the Government of Luxembourg, will be distributed around the world via a dedicated SES satellite network. The 24-hours of programming will be hosted by Professor Brian Cox, prominent British physicist, author and BBC commentator, who will be joined in studio and around the world by famed astronauts, and expert scientists, technologists and researchers in planetary science.

"I am very pleased to be hosting Asteroid Day LIVE this June 30," stated Prof. Cox. "This is a first-of-its-kind broadcast, celebrating and showcasing new discoveries in science that can help us understand our place in the solar system and nature - and in particular, the behaviour of asteroids. I'm very enthusiastic about it because asteroids provide a great opportunity for our civilisation, but also can pose great threats; we ignore them at our peril."

Asteroid Day was sanctioned by the United Nations in 2016, as a "global day of education to raise awareness about asteroids." This year, Asteroid Day includes the support and participation of the European, Japanese and American space agencies, as well as numerous business and media partners, including Discovery Channel, which is producing their own special on asteroids to be released June 30. These two special broadcasts complement more than 700 events occurring in 190 countries on and around June 30.

"For the first time in history, assets of our new space economy are enabling us to have a global conversation about space, and in particular, asteroids, via a global space network spanning all time zones," explained Asteroid Day Co-founder Danica Remy. "This is truly exciting, as citizens around the world will be able to hear from asteroid experts on the broadcast, while participating in local events and sharing their views on various social media platforms."

Asteroid Day LIVE will be the first ever 24-hour live broadcast from the new Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) studio at RTL City, Luxembourg. The program will air on various local channels subscribing to the SES satellite network, and via the Asteroid Day website.

"At SES, we value technology as a tool to improve and save lives," stated Ruy Pinto, SES Deputy CTO. "We are proud to be sponsoring this global awareness campaign to learn about asteroids, the impact hazards they may pose, the resources they may one day yield and what we can do to ensure we have the best technology available to protect our planet."

Everything you always wanted to know about near-Earth objects and planetary defense but were afraid to ask: At NASA, every day is Asteroid Day, with NASA-funded projects accounting for more than 90 percent of worldwide efforts in asteroid detection and mitigation. This live one-hour special will explain how NASA finds, tracks and characterizes near-Earth asteroids and how the agency is planning for planetary defense.

The University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory stands at the forefront of asteroid science. Besides leading NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission, UA/LPL also manages the world's most active program to identify and track Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). Join us for a presentation by UA/LPL's pioneers on the asteroid frontier.

In addition to the 24-hour live Asteroid Day LIVE broadcast, Discovery Channel has produced a special about asteroids and Asteroid Day, which will air on June 30.

"We are proud to be the principal media partner of Asteroid Day for the third year in a row, and excited to help raise awareness and spread the word among our fans through our Discovery networks around the world. As part of this partnership and to contribute to the cause, Discovery has produced a special documentary called "How to Survive an Asteroid Impact" and a 3 minute Virtual Reality video that recreates the impact of the asteroid that crashed in Tunguska in 1908. In June, Discovery Science will support Asteroid Day, with special asteroid themed programming giving viewers an insight on the risks behind asteroids, how scientists are trying to protect our planet from them and what viewers should do if one was just about to impact their city."

"We are very pleased to host the Asteroid Day event in Luxembourg, enhancing the excitement that our SpaceResources.lu initiative is generating across the world," stated Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, Etienne Schneider. "The partnership with the Asteroid Day activities is offering the Grand Duchy an additional opportunity to set its course in the space sector where the country is becoming increasingly important."

Pasadena CA (JPL) May 25, 2017





Psyche, NASA's Discovery Mission to a unique metal asteroid, has been moved up one year with launch in the summer of 2022, and with a planned arrival at the main belt asteroid in 2026 - four years earlier than the original timeline. "We challenged the mission design team to explore if an earlier launch date could provide a more efficient trajectory to the asteroid Psyche, and they came thr ... read more

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