Learn how our members and communities change the world.

Our citizen-funded spacecraft successfully demonstrated solar navigation for the CubeSat.

A visual postcard for the New Year of Planetary Science.

Volunteer as an advocate of space.

Advance space science and exploration with other space enthusiasts.

Get updates and weekly tools to learn, share, and advocate for space exploration.

Accelerate the progress of our three core enterprises-exploring the world, finding life and defending the earth. You can support the entire fund, or you can specify a core enterprise of your choice.

Understand the universe and our place in it.

Enable citizens of the world to advance space science and exploration.

Please accept the statistics cookie to listen to this podcast.

Chief Scientist of The Planetary Society/LightSail Project Manager

Chief Planetary Scientist, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, DART Coordinator

Manager of NASA NEO Project Office, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Chairman of the Advisory Group on Space Mission Planning, University of Oldenburg

Project Manager, Near-Earth Object Observation, NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office

Deputy Director of JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautics (ISAS)

Planetary Radio Host and Producer of the Planetary Society

The 2021 Planetary Defense Conference brings together leading scientists, policy makers, and other experts dedicated to protecting our planet from Near-Earth Objects (NEO). The Planetary Society hosted a special virtual party in late April and welcomed six of the heroes to attend. You will hear their progress report in this week's show. One is our own Bruce Bates! He will stay and watch the latest version of What's Up.

Humans on Earth and Asteroids: What is the score? A special virtual event to be held on April 29, 2021 to learn about the status of human planetary defense work.

Please accept marketing cookies to watch this video.

Planetary Society rrr-rubber asteroids!

Name all the near-Earth asteroids that the spacecraft has touched.

Fill out the contest registration form at https://www.planetary.org/radiocontest, or write to us via [email protection] before 8 am Pacific time on Wednesday, May 19th. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

In Michael Collins' second EVA, what did he collect from the Agena target vehicle and what extraneous items he lost during the EVA?

The winner will be announced next week.

Questions from the Space Quiz on April 28, 2021:

Who is the asteroid Kaplan named after?

The name of the asteroid 1987 Kaplan was named by its discoverer Pelageya Shajn in honor of the Russian astronomer Samuil Aronovich Kaplan. (You don’t think of others, do you?)

Mat Kaplan: The six heroes of planetary defense, on planetary radio this week. Welcome, I’m Mat Kaplan from the Planetary Society. There are more human adventures in and out of our solar system. Are we making progress in avoiding the fate of dinosaurs? This is the theme. At that time, I welcomed an international expert group to participate in the only public event of this year's Planetary Defense Conference. You will hear their very inspiring reports in today's show, and we will discuss future things, including the first mission to test asteroid deflection.

Mat Kaplan: One of the experts is our own Bruce Betts, who will work with us to produce the latest version centered on planetary defense? Including the return of "The Doomsday Rubber Asteroid". I am very grateful to everyone who took the time to rate and comment on Planetary Radio in Apple Podcasts, and I am even more grateful to everyone who subscribed. Don't worry, if you haven't solved it, the universe and I are very patient. Even huge planets have reason to worry about collisions between asteroids and comets. Look at what comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 did to Jupiter in 1994, ouch.

Mat Kaplan: You will find this picture at the top of the May 7th edition of Down Lake. The same goes for the great space headlines, the originality of the Mars helicopter has now completed its fifth flight across the red planet. I hope you can join our show next week, when I will welcome the return of original project manager Mimi Aung. What is provided on planetary.org/downlink is more than just news. Our friends who are exploring Mars have arranged the first Mars Innovation Forum to be held from May 25th to 27th. They have arranged a series of excellent Red Planet All-Stars for this virtual event.

Mat Kaplan: I will host a conference called "Building and Creating on Mars", but I look forward to hearing all the wonderful conversations. You can view and register at exploremars.org. The four-day 2021 Planetary Defense Conference ends on April 30, and like many other regular gatherings this year, participants must meet online. This restriction does not seem to limit the impressive agenda or the speeches of dozens of leaders from all over the world. As you will hear, it again contains well-designed exercises, simulations of encounters with asteroids, which are as exciting as any movie and more enlightening.

Mat Kaplan: The Planetary Society has once again become the main sponsor of PDC. What you are about to hear is almost all the time we share the excitement in the live webinar. Each of our six outstanding team members has a great story to tell, and you will hear their introduction as we move forward, so I won’t waste your time and take you directly to 4. On Thursday, 29th, we called the show Earth Leans Versus Asteroids. What are the scores? Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are around our beautiful planet.

Mat Kaplan: I’m Mat Kaplan from the Planetary Society, where I host our public broadcast series and podcast planetary radio. As part of the 2021 Planetary Defense Conference of the International Academy of Astronautics, we come to you today. This is the seventh semi-annual gathering of experts and policy makers from our light blue dot. We will listen to the opinions of six passionate defenders of the planet and treat it as a status report. By the end of the hour, we hope you will have a better understanding of the measures being taken to ensure that humans do not follow the path of dinosaurs.

Mat Kaplan: Kelly Fast is the project manager of the Near-Earth Object Observation Project of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, where she worked with NASA's Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson and welcomed Kelly.

Kelly Fast: Hi, Mat, thank you.

Mat Kaplan: What is the priority? If we want to learn how to protect our planet from big rocks, that might become our goal?

Kelly Fast: Well, the primary task of planetary defense is to find near-Earth asteroids and near-Earth objects, as well as asteroids or comets near the earth, and figure out where they have been and where they have gone. Will be in the future. If we don’t know that something might pose a threat of impact, then we can’t take all the other steps you will hear today. Therefore, the first task is to find them.

Matt Kaplan: No doubt. Like our other team members, you have some slides, and we will start with these impressive collections of telescopes. Are they beginning to let us understand what NASA is doing to define near-Earth objects that we don’t yet know about?

Kelly Fast: Oh, absolutely. This is the basis of planetary defense, which is to investigate the sky and look for points of light moving toward the stars. Therefore, these telescopes provided by many agencies funded by the NASA program do this every night, investigating the sky, looking for objects, or looking for natural objects that may not be in the catalog. These telescopes are provided by the University of Hawaii, the Pan-Astral Survey, and the University of Arizona Catalina Survey.

Kelly Fast: They are the most effective of the surveys currently funded by NASA and have produced most of the findings. But also commendable is the Atlas Telescope of the University of Hawaii. Good inter-agency coordination with the U.S. Space Forces on their space surveillance telescopes has taken the asteroids out of the images they took at night. Finally, even telescopes developed for other purposes are reused. NEOWISE is a repurposed WISE space telescope that can now measure asteroids full-time. It is not designed to do this, but it is a good pathfinder that can help you do it correctly from space.

Kelly Fast: It generates a lot of information about the characteristics and size of the asteroids in the catalog. Then there are many other observatories funded by the project to follow up these discoveries and try to ensure that there is enough information to calculate the orbits to understand where these objects will be in the future. Congress proposed a goal for NASA to find 90% of the near-Earth asteroids of 140 meters and larger. Now we want to find all the objects that our telescope can detect, but if an object of this size hits the earth, then this size range will truly pose a regional threat. So this is a good benchmark.

Kelly Fast: The person doing all the modeling can estimate that there may be about 25,000 such objects. We only completed about 40%, but still plugged in every night. At the current rate of discovery, it will take more than 30 years to complete this investigation, but efforts are being made to find the next generation of telescopes to speed up the process. But again, the telescopes I just showed you, they just look for the path I mentioned every night, such as from the NEOWISE telescope.

Kelly Fast: And from some research done with the community, including research with the National Academy of Sciences, all the research shows that the telescope needs to be placed in space, and it should have infrared capabilities in order to be able to generate size information and obtain these small The discovery of planets, the color of these asteroids may be very dark, and more difficult to capture from ground-based telescopes, these asteroids are being observed in the optics, and our eyes can see. Some things may be very large, but if it is very dark, it may be very faint. And eventually accelerate the discovery of near-Earth asteroids that are 140 meters and larger.

Kelly Fast: There are any asteroids discovered under investigation, add them to the catalog, and then eliminate their risk, hope not, but if there is something that poses an impact threat to the earth, many of them are discovered, many years in advance, Decades in advance. Now at the Planetary Defense Conference, we are dealing with the asteroid scene of a fictional asteroid, which was only discovered six months before the impact and resolution of these issues. We don't want to find ourselves in that kind of scene. Therefore, there are many reasons to consider, what is the best way to speed up the investigation and ensure that we have a lot of time. This is what NASA is studying.

Mat Kaplan: We will hear more about that exercise from Paul Chodas, who was the evil genius who destroyed the Earth's analog fashion in that exercise. We will also hear about the work being done globally from some of our other team members, but what about collaborative efforts on a global scale to track and characterize near-Earth objects?

Kelly Fast: Yes. Our planetary defense officer likes to say, "Planetary defense is a team sport, and it does require the efforts of the whole world." In fact, it is in progress. The United Nations recommended a cooperative project, the International Asteroid Early Warning Network. This is a collaboration of observatories, independent astronomers, space research institutes and orbital calculators all over the world, aiming to use their capabilities to solve this near-Earth asteroid planetary defense problem.

Kelly Fast: So these different institutions and observatories have made a lot of contributions. In terms of following up the discovery of asteroids, obtaining more observational data to determine their orbits, to determine their future positions, and to determine the possible population or possibility The impact is modeled. All of these are brought together as part of international cooperation. Everyone is cooperating with their own institutions. Everyone is doing what they are already doing, but to establish these communication channels. Therefore, if there is any type of impact threat that needs to be addressed, then it will be in place.

Kelly Fast: The International Asteroid Early Warning Network also carries out its own coordinated observation activities, sometimes treating them as planetary defense exercises in its own small scenes to exercise these capabilities and these communication channels. In fact, for the asteroid Apophis, a recent observation activity has just ended. Apophis, astronomers all over the world are observing it, trying to characterize it before its final chance in 2029. So very good cooperation.

Mat Kaplan: Speaking of international efforts, Gerhard Drolshagen is the chair of the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group. Gerhard used to work for the European Space Agency and now joins us from Oldenburg University. Welcome to Gerhard.

Gerhard Drolshagen: We heard that finding objects that may pose a threat to the earth is important, but the next question is, what can you do? Of course, one idea is to move them away to prevent potential collisions with the earth. This is why this international group, the space mission planning advisory group you mentioned, has been established, because any impact risk is global, and it requires international efforts to try to do something. The group got together to discuss what can be done through space missions to avoid collisions if the object is really big and threatening.

Mat Kaplan: We learned that not all asteroids are the same. How many have we visited?

Gerhard Drolshagen: Exactly. I mean, it has also been realized. We got this information from colleagues who discovered objects and characterized them. Each object seems to be different. They come in different sizes, from very small to truly large kilometers in size, and they can have different shapes. In addition, things that are not so obvious are identified, and they can have very different compositions. It turns out that the three here have been visited by spacecraft. The Itokawa on the left is about 500 meters in size. Then you have Ryugu and Bennu, these are piles of rubble.

Gerhard Drolshagen: So they are not really solid rocks composed of different small rocks and dust. If you want to deflect an object in any way, then you need to know what it is made of. And there are a series of different suggestions about what people can do to deflect such objects. Therefore, it’s very important to understand their composition. I mean, it helps that the three objects you see here have been visited by spacecraft, but this is for scientific reasons, just to understand their composition and this. Not an idea to test any deflection method. Therefore, we turned from these objects to some samples, and we learned about them. If in the end one of these objects approaches and we have to consider deflecting it in reality, this will be very important.

Mat Kaplan: Soon now, that is, not too many years from now. We will finally have a close visit to one of the most dangerous asteroids, namely Fe-Ni or Ni-Fe asteroids. This is an upcoming mission. middle. We heard that when talking to visiting asteroids from Kelly, about observing near-Earth objects and near-Earth objects from a distance, whether from the surface of the earth or our powerful space telescope, should we also be ready to send fast Spacecraft to check threats to observe near-Earth objects at close range, perhaps flying by?

Gerhard Drolshagen: Yes, it is certainly very desirable. First of all, through such a fast mission, it can be completed by a very small spacecraft, and they are now very powerful. You can get to know them, you can get some information about the size. Usually you will see a little bit of light, but you don't know, is it a very bright object or is it too big? If you see how bright the light spot is, or if it is a dark object, it may be much larger. If you really want to deflect it, you must know its true size. Therefore, it may be very useful to send a small spacecraft to better characterize it.

Gerhard Drolshagen: It may also help to get a real orbit. If those people like Kelly, tell us how it hit the earth, usually you are not sure. So if you fly there, it can help get better orbit information. Of course, you can also get it through ground-based telescopes and radar, but it may have to fly there. I think this is something that can be done fairly easily, and I believe that in the future, some of these tasks will be achieved. There are a few in the plan, and we can learn a lot. If new interesting or dangerous objects are found, this can be done in a short time.

Mat Kaplan: Tell us about Hera?

Gerhard Drolshagen: Well, I think we heard more about these missions, the DART Hera mission, but this is already a good example of an international company. Because that will be built by NASA. It is now built. It should be tested. If you just hit an object, you can push it away, how much can you push it away, and can you hit it where you like? Then ESA is building the Hera spacecraft that will appear later, which will characterize what happened. And you can see how big a crater is, what is the real composition of this object, if you hit it quickly, you don't know it will really help the test, and see the impact of this impact.

Gerhard Drolshagen: I mean, by the way, what we call a dynamic shock is the idea, you hit it as fast as possible with the largest spacecraft, and give it a little push. In any case, the spacecraft will be much smaller than the object, but if you do it fast enough, then this time you can push the object away and it will miss the earth. You don't want to destroy it, you don't want to change the object completely, but because we want to test the effect, this can be done as this Hera spacecraft, it will come after the impact event to see what really happened.

Gerhard Drolshagen: You have to carefully consider what you can do, when you can do it, and calculate how much push is needed to deflect these objects. Maybe there is a small comparison, if you have two cars crossing the road and you want to avoid them colliding, you don't have to move the road, this is the track of these objects. You just need to make sure that the two cars are not at the same time. The best way for us to talk about asteroids is to push one of the objects forward, or to slow it down. You can't really do this to the earth, because the earth is too big.

Gerhard Drolshagen: But for such an object, if you push it a little bit and let it cross the road, it will pass the intersection earlier or later like other objects, and you avoid collisions. This is the main mechanism, and it shows that if you observe these objects and their huge scale, it is not easy.

Mat Kaplan: So far, it has always been asteroids, asteroids, and asteroids. What about a comet, a sneaky comet, before it sails towards us, we may not have much chance to track it?

Gerhard Drolshagen: Yes, you are right. I mean, comets are a real risk. Fortunately, there are far fewer comets that hit the Earth than asteroids we can easily find. But if it is a real great comet, several kilometers in size, they are often very large. And we only found it in a short period of time. It came from an exit, from a very far place, and it was only visible when it started to droop its tail, so it was indeed a difficult thing. I want to say that this is the next step we have to deal with. First, we try to deal with more dangerous and more asteroids. Comets are a real threat, but it is difficult to deal with them now. But we will cooperate with them.

Matt Kaplan: Thank you, Gerhard. Now let's take a look at Paul Jordas. Paul is the manager of the Near-Earth Object Project Office. He works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, very close to where I am now at the Planetary Society headquarters. Thank you for joining us, Paul.

Paul Jordas: [Crosstalk 00:18:34] Thank you for inviting me.

Matt Kaplan: You're welcome. Glad you are here. Let's turn to your first slide, how many near-Earth objects are we tracking?

Paul Chodas: The number keeps increasing, 25,000 or more, these are the true tracks of some of them. We now discover about 2,500 such near-Earth objects every year, so the observatory that Kelly first showed was very effective. But the question is, do these constitute a threat? So my team at CNEOS at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for figuring out what the orbits of these asteroids are and whether they have a chance to affect near-Earth objects, so we conducted an impact assessment on each.

Mat Kaplan: This is NASA’s award-winning acronym CNEOS, the Center for Near-Earth Object Research. This is CNEO's website. I think you hope that many people will visit this website.

Paul Jordas: Yes. We are the central repository of orbital information for NASA's plans. We calculate the track, there are a lot of tables and data on our website, you can visit our website and predict where things will happen, approach methods, yes. Asteroids become observable when they are close to the earth, so we often see them coming from the night, many of them are very small, but some of them will be close to the earth, so we will keep track of all close proximity and update. So we often see the news, and I know that on my mobile phone, I see news about the "coming approach". And, "NASA warns of close approach."

Paul Jordas: Now, these asteroids will not fly to the earth. I mean, sorry, they will not have an impact. They will be close to the asteroids on our close proximity list, which rarely have a chance to affect near-Earth objects near us. So this is one thing that makes our website worth checking. We have 9,600 more than 140 meters, about 900 more than one kilometer. So you can see that with NASA funding all these telescopes, the discovery rate has grown exponentially.

Mat Kaplan: So the good news is, right? For the most dangerous ones, those larger than one kilometer, the red line at the bottom is now very flat. This is a success story, isn't it?

Paul Jordas: Exactly. We think we have found about 95% of large populations larger than 1 km in size. If they are hit, it may cause a global disaster, so we have eliminated this risk. Essentially, there are only a few left, and the probability of any one of them hitting the earth in the next 100 years is very small. Of course, we will continue to look for all these asteroids, but the larger asteroids are well taken care of. Now we are focusing on the orange line, reaching 140 meters, as Kelly said, our goal is to find 90% of the population.

Paul Chodas: So the question is, if an asteroid of this size hits the Earth, what kind of event will happen? So small meteors will produce meteoroids or super meteoroids, very bright meteors, but when you get bigger and bigger, the air bursts, you will be locally destroyed, and then in the orange area, you start to become regional, continental Sex, the global size is damaged at the point below, and then the green area is the larger area I mentioned before, and we have found 95%.

Paul Chodas: Bolides happen about once a year. 5m objects are very common, but as the size gets larger, the number of all NEOs will decrease. So, for example, an object the size of Chelyabinska is a super meteor or a major airburst somewhere in the area, and there is basically a hundred years between two impacts of that size. When you enter the orange zone, the scale of the zone is destroyed, the size is 140 meters, and we are talking about an average of thousands of years, tens of thousands of years of impact. Now this does not mean that it will not happen next year or within the next ten years, but it is unlikely.

Paul Chodas: For those interested in learning how to deflect asteroids, we have loaded a realistic simulation on our website. These are hypothetical asteroids heading to Earth. You have the opportunity to have your own launch vehicle and specify when to deflect this asteroid based on the years before the impact. You said when you want to launch your deflector. This is an example of a kinetic impactor defense mechanism. You can actually test the real physics on the simulated asteroid. When you design your launch, you can move the green dot, the current trajectory of the asteroid, and you can move it to make it miss the earth.

Mat Kaplan: Your personal chance to save the planet. For those of us who are old enough to remember the Asteroids game, this is a very important upgrade, I want to say. There is really one more thing you have to tell us. Although this year's Planetary Defense Conference is virtual, it still has my favorite part of the conference every year. This is the Planetary Defense Conference exercise, as I said, you are the planner, please tell us some information about this?

Paul Jordas: Yes. A few years ago I was called a threat master, and I designed a hypothetical case with specific warnings. In this case, we have six months between the discovery of the asteroid and the time it may strike, and we will ask when we know what? Then we inform the decision makers of the level of uncertainty. So there is a lot of discussion about this possibility and the region that may affect it. This example comes from our practice. In this case, the region that may be affected includes Central Europe.

Paul Jordas: Then we will show this image to decision makers, and they will consider, "Well, what will we do, is mitigation possible or space missions possible? So what about disaster management, how would you deal with this? A situation?” Now in this case, the impact has been several months before, but the uncertainty in the decision-making is very difficult to deal with. As the impact gets closer, this area shrinks, [inaudible 00:25:00], but of course the reaction time is shorter.

Mat Kaplan: When this happens, I can’t tell you how interesting it is to be across the room and listen to people’s voices, even though they know it’s an exercise and will remind you on every slide that appears on the big screen On their screens, how nervous and anxious the audience or participants become when this happens. I can't wait to wait for the next one of them face to face in a few years. Thank you, Paul. Our more public events at the 2021 Planetary Defense Conference include important questions we asked from online audiences and reports on the upcoming DART (our double asteroid redirect test mission).

Mat Kaplan: Where do we come from, are we alone in the universe? These are the core issues we have. The secrets of the universe are outside, waiting to be discovered, but to find them, we must go into space and we must explore. This effort unites us, and space exploration truly shows our best, encouraging people from all walks of life to work together to achieve common goals, to understand the universe and our location... This is the Planetary Society The reason exists, our mission is to give you the power to advance space science and exploration. With your support, we will sponsor innovative space technology, stimulate curiosity and advocate our space future. We are the Planetary Society. join us.

Mat Kaplan: We are now honored to welcome Masaki Fujimoto. Masaki is the deputy director of the Institute of Space and Astronautics of the Japanese Space Agency. He joined us from Japan, Masaki, and I believe it is after midnight. Thank you for staying up late to join us.

Fujimoto Masaki: My pleasure. thank you.

Mat Kaplan: Congratulations to Hayabusa2 for its recent great success. JAXA's second spacecraft returned raw asteroid material to eager scientists on Earth. On December 5th last year, where were you when the sample return capsule was swept across the sky?

Masaki Fujimoto: Yes, Woomera I landed in the capsule. But even when I landed in the space capsule, I still stared at my computer screen while you were enjoying the fireball running in the sky.

Mat Kaplan: Well, I only watched the video, but it was impressive. But when the space capsule was found in the desert, you were there, and the precious sample was taken back to the laboratory.

Masaki Fujimoto: Yes, I was at the headquarters of the operations team. I didn't witness everything with my own eyes, but I participated in all the procedures. After logging in, it only took 57 hours to bring the samples back to our curatorial facility. Then a few days later, we opened the capsule and found 5.4 grams of sample, 55 times more than the minimum requirement. So it was a huge success, and I am really proud to be part of the team.

Mat Kaplan: This should be the case for you and the entire team. As you know, we also reported this on Planetary Radio. Those samples, I don’t know if they are being distributed, but eventually, they will be sent to laboratories around the world, won’t they?

Fujimoto Masaki: Yes. So now we have preliminary planning before June this year, and then one year, we will conduct preliminary analysis, preliminary review before marriage, so that we can create a catalog. Scientists from all over the world will understand the scientific scale potential of the samples, and then starting next summer, we will distribute the samples to all scientists who are interested in analyzing the samples. So they will submit the proposal to us, and then there will be a complete process, and a selected scientist will have a chance.

Mat Kaplan: I know you will work closely with the OSIRIS-REx team. If I remember correctly, I believe they will return samples from Bennu in 2023?

Mat Kaplan: Of course, Hayabusa2. Long before the return of the sample module, your spacecraft has provided wonderful science. Can you briefly review and emphasize the work done by the spacecraft during close contact with Ryugu?

Fujimoto Masaki: Yes. So, it fought in close quarters for nearly a year and a half. During that year and a half... Well, first of all, when we arrived at the Dragon Palace, we were shocked by its unfriendly appearance. This is a sample [inaudible 00:29:55], so we have to land on the ground, but when we get there, every road on the ground is very rough. So we need to change the way we land on the surface, so we developed a new way of landing and obtaining samples. We finally managed to invent it, and made two repairs, the second landing was after the impact test, the underground material was excavated to the surface.

Masaki Fujimoto: We will deploy an impactor, turn it into a bullet and hit the surface, and then create an artificial crater. Therefore, I think this is the closest correlation between the task and [inaudible 00:30:34]. After deploying the impactor, the main spacecraft itself will be evacuated, because you don't want to hit the debris from the impact excrement onto the spacecraft in a dangerous situation. So instead of deploying the main spacecraft, we deployed small separate cameras. What we are witnessing here is the formation of craters in microgravity.

Masaki Fujimoto: And we are learning a lot about the mechanism of crater formation, and this impact experiment also makes the sub-service material appear on the surface, we obtained samples from it.

Mat Kaplan: Amazing shots. As amazing as these photos are, we now see a helicopter flying on Mars, and it is amazing to see the artificial crater formed on the asteroid Ryugu. Since this is an impact, it certainly reminds me of the role of planetary defense in the Hayabusa 2 mission. Is this the main part of the mission?

Masaki Fujimoto: Well, yes, nor is it. In a sense, we did leak some parts of the human asteroid exploration program. Playing some roles in planetary defense is almost a duty. So the effect of this on the experiment has some flavor, but we also learned from Ryugu's exploration what is the best way to characterize the physical state of a small object's surface. Based on my experience in Ryugu, we learned that thermal infrared cameras are one of the best instruments for characterizing surface conditions. This is why we participated in ESA's Hara mission, which was described in the previous speech.

Masaki Fujimoto: We provided a thermal infrared camera so that the Hara mission can image the surface after the US component impact experiment. Then the camera should be one of the key instruments to characterize the entire experiment.

Mat Kaplan: Well, there are other things to look forward to in the Hera mission, and other things that will happen in the next few years. One of the most important things that will happen is the DART task we have already mentioned. Nancy Chabot is the coordinator of the double asteroid redirection test DART at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Nancy Chabot: So, as we discussed, DART is a NASA mission to demonstrate this dynamic impactor technology. This means that it is very simple, we will launch a spacecraft, we will aim at an asteroid, and then crash the spacecraft against it. What this will do is that it will give the asteroid a little bit of impetus that we have already discussed. It only slightly increases the change of the asteroid's future path and deflects it, so this is a mission to demonstrate this dynamic impact technology to deflect the asteroid. DART stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test. T is for testing and is very important.

Nancy Chabot: This is just a test, this is the first step. This is not an asteroid that threatens to hit the earth, nor is it a path to hit the earth. We are taking the first test step to complete this technology. Before I go further, I also really want to say that DART is a team, so I am very happy to be here today to talk about DART and share DART, but we at APL have hundreds of people working on it now. We also have our cooperating agencies, they are bringing others, and we have scientists from all over the world involved in making this task a reality. Therefore, it really takes this kind of international cooperation and the efforts of hundreds of people to complete such a task and embark on the road to the first test.

Nancy Chabot: What I want to say is that this is indeed the ideal target for the first test, which is the Didymos system. So the double asteroid redirection test enters the double asteroid system, and this is what you see here. So there is a large asteroid Didymos and then Dimorphos, a smaller asteroid that revolves around Didymos like a clockwork every 11 hours and 55 minutes. We know this because telescopes on Earth have been observing it for years. So we know this very accurately from all these measurements made by earth-based telescopes.

Nancy Chabot: So what will happen is that the DART spacecraft will scream in, actually 6.6 kilometers per second, 15,000 miles per hour, and violently hit Dimorphos. A few days ago, LICIACube was a light Italian CubeSat for asteroid imaging provided by the Italian Space Agency. We will start, and LICIACube will get some spectacular images of this impact event from DART. It will then be the closest to the asteroid in about three minutes, and then continue to accelerate. But now that the LICIACube has long ceased to exist, the DART spacecraft must have been completely destroyed, so how do we know how much we deflected this asteroid?

Nancy Chabot: At that time, the earth-based telescope regained this truly crucial role. Because this is a double asteroid system, they can measure what it is now in that period. We think we will change it by about 10 minutes, so it might be more like 11 hours and 45 minutes. But we don’t know, in fact, that’s why we need to perform this test on a real asteroid in space. Then, as we heard, Hara will arrive in 2026 and truly bring all these outstanding features together. We can gather as much information about this dynamic impactor technology experiment as possible.

Mat Kaplan: It's exciting to think that we are actually close to seeing whether we have the ability to deflect an asteroid for the first time.

Nancy Chabot: I really just want to say that going back to this team theory, in many ways, this has been a challenging year, but this work is still going on. The program above the program, which really proves people's trust in this project and everyone's dedication. Something that will happen is the sun's rays they are going to throw in. The DRACO camera that will be used to help target asteroids will be put into use in the next few months. And all this is to prepare for the mission, prepare to do this dynamic impactor technology demonstration, prepare to launch in November this year.

Nancy Chabot: So it's not far from the Space X and Falcon 9 rockets in Vandenberg, California, and we are really happy to be on the right track.

Matt Kaplan: Great. Thank you, Nancy. You know, our last team member is my partner in What's Up? The part of planetary radio has been more than 18 years. He is the chief scientist of the Planetary Society and the project manager of our LightSail 2 CubeSat, which still captures some light there. Welcome Bruce Bates.

Bruce Bates: Thank you, Matt. It's nice to see it as usual.

Mat Kaplan: Tell us about the major announcement you made this week on behalf of the Planetary Society, with PDC as the background?

Bruce Bates: We have announced another round of the Gene Shoemaker Near-Earth Object Funding Program, which provides funding for astronomers, amateurs and professionals around the world. You can see what we have funded in the past 24 years place. We fund them to upgrade their observatories, whether it's a new camera, or re-aluminizing the mirrors, or making them more robotically controlled so that they can get more data. Although most professional surveys now, as Kelly said, found most of the near-Earth objects, a large number of observations from many places and follow-up observations are still needed. If it is in a position in the sky, then people like Paul Chodas can Calculate Orbitz and determine whether it will hit the earth.

Bruce Betts: Then characterize them and observe them over time, such as light curve, brightness change over time, so you can calculate their rotation rate, or whether an asteroid is actually two, Just like DART, we will explore a binary star system. And what they are made of, if you have to deflect them at some point, you need to know these. So we just announced a public call for proposals, they will expire at the end of July, you can find more information on Planetary.org/neogrants

Mat Kaplan: There are also new things from the Planetary Society. What is the new STEP subsidy?

Bruce Bates: Yes, we have just launched a new funding program to openly solicit international proposals. The pre-proposal will expire on May 26, called STEP, a science and technology authorized by the public. Because we are a member organization, these things will only happen to the members and donors of our program. We are now able to provide some larger grants through a competitive process that spans various fields of space exploration and technology. But one of our three core companies is planetary defense, defense against asteroids. So hopefully we will get something that is not suitable for Shoemaker NEO funding, and we will find that we have some good suggestions for the new STEP funding plan.

Mat Kaplan: You and other colleagues in our society, we are very happy to come up with this acronym. We usually just have fun when other people come up with clever acronyms, just like everyone else in the group. [Crosstalk 00:39:43]-

Bruce Bates: [Crosstalk 00:39:43] Make acronyms for everything, but they are periodically rejected.

Matt Kaplan: That's right. Yes, of course. There are still many things that society can insert. Insert methods to help us improve our understanding and support for planetary defense?

Bruce Betts: There are many free resources on our website, which you can find on planetary.org/defense, related to planetary defense. From frequently asked questions, about Apophis, asteroids flying close in 2029, and general frequently asked questions, we have everything. There is an online asteroid defense course. I will teach you more than an hour to give you a basic introduction to asteroid defense and the types of our amazing group work. We also got an infographic poster from our political advocacy guru Casey Dreier, and then a budget analysis of the U.S. plan over time.

Mat Kaplan: There are other great videos. Those of you who joined us before the start, you may have seen that series of dinosaur videos, made by Bruce and our staff, our great video production Merc Boyan is definitely interesting. These can also be found on the website. I just want to add that the Planetary Association is proud to be the main sponsor of the Planetary Defense Conference, and we are really very proud of it.

Bruce Betts: I just want to say that this is an amazing meeting. Every two years we bring together experts on all aspects of asteroid threats from all over the world, and we are proud to be a part of it.

Mat Kaplan: And how we did it, thank you group members. You did a great job showing what everyone might have, we could have spent an entire hour showing it. For Misty West, who asked us on Facebook, this is a good question whether all Starlink and other microsatellites will be launched, as well as all the large satellite constellations that are currently being launched. They had an impact on the asteroid survey that Kelly told us. I know Kelly, do you want to accept first, but any of you are welcome to join.

Kelly Fast: Of course. I can say a few words. The survey has dealt with satellites that pass through the field of view and leave streaks in the image, so this is something they are already dealing with, and as the number of satellites increases, the situation will get worse. The problem before dawn and sunset is more serious, that is, the time of the day when the sun actually illuminates them relative to the sky. So this is something they are accustomed to dealing with and continuing to deal with, to look at it better, well, how to deal with larger quantities. So it will affect them, but it hasn't closed anything yet. So don’t worry.

Mat Kaplan: Of course, we do have other astronomers who have expressed great concern about what might happen when thousands of new moons begin to revolve around our planet. Is there anyone else who wants to participate?

Paul Jordas: Oh, let me just say that we have an advantage over astronomers who observe galaxies and the like. The asteroids move, so we have a chance, if they are behind the satellite and the satellite continuously climbs an image of the asteroid, we might get it another time. So I think it will reduce efficiency, maybe, if there are tens of thousands of moons, but I think the survey can still find asteroids.

Matt Kaplan: This is reassuring. [Hothpop robot cross talk 00:43:22], like that, he asked us on YouTube, "The influence of Hayabusa on Ryugu, can we judge whether it might change its trajectory in a measurable way, even if there is only one A little bit?" Masaki, that might be for you?

Fujimoto Masaki: Well, first of all, the size of the grader is about 20 meters in diameter and 3 meters in depth. It's really a tiny impact experiment. And I think there is no way, well, if there is a deflection effect, the number is really small. And I don’t think we have any way to measure the incremental impact. So no, the short answer is no.

Mat Kaplan: I will represent Isaac Newton and Nancy here. I will ask you why we have more confidence. Looking at the laws of motion, DART will produce possible detectable changes in motion?

Nancy Chabot: So, one of the reasons DART uses this dual asteroid system is because we don't have to change the asteroids surrounding the sun, just like we change the small lunar asteroids surrounding the main asteroid. This is really what will make it more measurable and use things on earth, we will be able to introduce it and have a deflection that earth-based telescopes can measure very easily. I should mention that this will happen in late September 2022. That time was chosen because the asteroid and the Earth have actually minimized their distance.

Nancy Chabot: So telescopes on Earth will be able to obtain very high-precision data to really reduce the deflection caused by that time. This is why [Inaudible 00:44:56] The system is time for the first test.

Paul Chodas: Let me add some knowledge of mathematics. The speed of the projectile is very different, and DART will rush into that small moon and transfer a lot of momentum in the mass of the spacecraft. For Ryugu, its speed is lower, and the projectile must be smaller, so unless it deflects.

Mat Kaplan: [Dean Sherman 00:45:22], who asked us on YouTube if we will build bases on the moon and Mars in the future, and can we also use them to track near-Earth objects? Let me add one more point. Is there any real value in using these other vantage points?

Kelly Fast: Well, of course, it’s good to take advantage of any vantage point, but again, the group that has gathered to study how to best do this has pointed out that space telescopes are a viable method. This is something you can actually do now, we have launched a space telescope, so if we want to continue the investigation, we need to use the technology we have now. The space telescope was launched, which is the NEO surveyor we need now to continue the discovery. However, with the emergence of these other technologies, such as the ability to have a telescope on the moon, then these technologies should definitely be added as we deploy telescopes around the earth.

Kelly Fast: So there is no reason not to, but there are technical challenges to overcome, so this will be farther than what we currently have at NASA. We have the ability to launch space telescopes.

Mat Kaplan: Does anyone else think of the value of installing a telescope on our nearest neighbor or on the red planet?

Nancy Chabot: [Crosstalk 00:46:40] Astronomers If we want more telescopes, I think. um, yes. [Inaudible 00:46:44] I mean, but Kelly is right, space-based surveyors are indeed what we need to solve the asteroid problem, and we need to be as fast as possible.

Mat Kaplan: Another recognition. Kelly, let me stop and ask you what is the status of this spacecraft. As you know, everyone in our Planetary Society has been expecting you for years?

Kelly Fast: Yes. The Near-Earth Astrometer is currently under development and will be developed later this summer. This is a key decision point B, and we will further promote it by developing the design of this space-based telescope. Therefore, under the circumstances that NASA funds allow, this kind of thing is still going on in order to maintain this development.

Mat Kaplan: So this is a question asked by S McNeil on YouTube. He asked to predict which asteroid will be closest to it in the next century, how close is it predicted, and how big is it? I think the name of that asteroid has already appeared, isn't it, Paul?

Paul Jordas: Yes. I think you are referring to an Apophis, it will be close to—

Paul Chodas: ...closer than satellites, Friday the 13th, 2029. April, Friday the 13th.

Mat Kaplan: Because of the work you and others can do now, how do we know that you have not deviated by one point, one minute, one second, and that it will really be caught between us and the geosynchronous orbit? satellite.

Paul Jordas: I have a recent story. This is why we were able to predict the occultation of Apophis. We heard some news about this at the Planetary Defense Conference. We know the orbit of Apophis very accurately, so we can predict the shadows that starlight will cast on the earth, and deploy observers to observe the shadows to see when Apophis will cover the star. Therefore, our knowledge of the location of Apophis has fallen to within a few hundred meters. This is a typical feature of asteroids that can be well observed by optical astronomers and radar. So we really know the orbit of Apophis very accurately, and we can predict the close approach in 2029 very accurately.

Paul Jordas: Now, a better question is, what happens if it goes through the keyhole and may come back later and hit? Recent radar measurements of Apophis have allowed us to eliminate this possibility. So the asteroid Apophis is now completely free from the risk that we might hit the earth in the next 100 years, because we know its orbit is so accurate.

Matt Kaplan: This brings me to another question. It has brought about the tragic and terrible loss of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Of course, it can also radar asteroids and other objects in the solar system. Check. For any of you, how much is the loss of this dish, and should we seek to replace it?

Kelly Fast: Well, this is a huge loss for the NASA-funded radar project completed in Arecibo. The radar is a facility of the NSF where other astronomical and atmospheric missions were performed. It is the most sensitive radar system on earth. We still have the Goldstone solar system radar. It is very capable and has maneuverability that Arecibo does not have, but it has no sensitivity, so it can help remove Apophis from the risk list. It’s really great. However, there are still limitations on sensitivity, so it is something that is lacking. I hope that in the future, we can coordinate with other institutions to study the possibility of possible functions. In the future, for this ability, the entire government

Mat Kaplan: Gerhard, you may be the best person to ask this question, although Masaki, maybe you know something. Apophis is still a few years away. Is there any discussion about sending a spacecraft to observe it more closely, even if it is so close to the earth, within tens or hundreds of meters?

Gerhard Drorshagen: Yes. Obviously, this is a good opportunity to visit asteroids. As we all know, asteroids are about 300 meters or larger. This orbit is well-known, as we heard, it will pass within a certain distance, which is well-known, and the distance to the earth can reach tens of meters. Therefore, this is a unique opportunity to understand the composition of the spacecraft, test the spacecraft, its capabilities, and visit it. Because we have enough time to plan and plan several activities to send a spacecraft to Apophis when it is very close on Friday the 13th, 2029, just a reconnaissance spacecraft.

Gerhard Drolshagen: It can also be seen from the ground. I think everything is OK, including radar. I hope that there is a new radar facility and we will deploy it in place. And of course, the spacecraft plans to send there to get as much information as it can approach and it shouldn't be too difficult to reach it. Of course, we try to avoid collisions with the earth, but this is for our team. If the object is large, it is expected to be severely damaged. But, as we can see from one of Paul’s charts, smaller objects keep hitting the earth. Therefore, very small objects are just meteors or fireballs, but objects can also become larger, reaching several meters in size, and can be observed through optical telescopes or radar in space.

Gerhard Drolshagen: Of course, a goal is to find something that will eventually hit the earth, you don't even try to deflect them, it may be harmless. But when you see them coming, you can predict where the impact will be, you can estimate what the ingredients are, and study the impact. So far, this has happened four times. Astronomers and planetary defense experts have managed to see an object coming and then hit the earth. They and us are only at the meter level and did not cause any damage. In a few cases, meteorites are recovered on the ground. This is a good test case. Take a look at them to see what happens. Are our predictions correct?

Mat Kaplan: Another great development. Masaki, do you and your colleagues at JAXA hope to see the mission to Apophis around 2029?

Fujimoto Masaki: By the way, Hayabusa 2 is on its second mission and is now in the extended mission phase. It will fly over one of the near-Earth asteroids at close range and will be with another near-Earth asteroid in 2031. And they are both potentially dangerous asteroids, so the Hayabusa 2 mission is now lighter and more defensive than before. So it is not Apophis itself, but Hayabusa2 is still working hard to contribute to planetary dependence.

Mat Kaplan: I want to know if you can also talk about the MMX mission. In a sense, this is an asteroid encounter mission, even if it is going to Mars?

Fujimoto Masaki: That's right. The scientific theme is about who brought water to the earth, which was born dry. What Hayabusa2 pursues is that as our sample from Ryugu, we will try to answer this question, but one sample is not enough. Therefore, we will get more samples from Phobos (one of the Martian moons), and we will solve the same problem and analyze samples from Phobos. But at the same time, we may find that some Mars samples have been on the surface of Phobos for a long time, so bringing the samples back to Phobos may allow us to bring some Mars samples at the same time. In this sense, this MMX mission is our first Mars exploration program for JAXA. It is no longer just a small body mission, so it has the flavor of Mars exploration JAXA.

Mat Kaplan: Bruce, Apophis seems to provide a good opportunity for the public to promote planetary defense?

Bruce Bates: Yes, it does, man. I am glad you mentioned this. Yes, we have an asteroid coming. It is very large, about 300 meters, but there is no planned impact, but it can actually be seen in parts of the earth, including Europe. It's just a point in the sky, but I think it will be a great opportunity to raise awareness of the threat of asteroids because of the work that the people in our group and the people in the meeting are doing. And hope to keep us safer away from asteroid impacts in the future.

Mat Kaplan: I really don’t want any of you to have an answer, it comes from [Mel Powell 00:55:50] I happen to know that he is a smart person, he listens to planetary radio, and he asks us on Facebook, we can buy planets The Association Apophis protects the helmet in case Paul Chodas has a degree or so? Yes, Mel. We will fix this problem as soon as possible and add it to our store, aren't we Bruce?

Bruce Bates: Oh yes. Yes, we will.

Mat Kaplan: Paul, this is one, maybe you can explain the terminology you use. [Nikki Hyman 00:56:18] Asked on Facebook: "What is a keyhole?" What is the keyhole you mentioned in this case?

Paul Chodas: Very good question, it is a passage close to the earth, so if an asteroid enters and misses the earth, if it passes through this small passage, sometimes its size is less than one kilometer, sometimes it can reach dozens of sizes M. But we can calculate that the asteroid passes through this small channel. Of course, its gravity will bend the asteroid's orbit, and then it will enter a different orbit around the sun, but according to our calculations, it may collide. Therefore, when we look at the math and run it backwards, we can calculate the size of the gateway that may have an impact in a few years, so we call it a keyboard.

Mat Kaplan: This is our last question, guys. It comes from [Jay Harkey 00:57:13] on YouTube. Are there any resources available to educate amateur astronomers on how to collect necessary information about NEOs, which may be part of the tracking that Bruce talked about, we funded through the Shoemaker NEO grant program, or the idea of ​​equipment needed to become asteroids and Are you serious observers of near-Earth objects? I think any of you might be able to start solving this problem, but Bruce, let's start with you?

Bruce Betts: I'm not sure if there is a one-stop service, I will point out the group that does this. Some are individuals, some are amateur astronomers, and some are professionals. They have been doing this for a while and have completed some advanced settings, such as pulling out your six-inch telescope in the backyard. Therefore, my suggestion is to check some observatories. You can find Shoemaker NEO grant recipients and look around for the information they have obtained online. At least you can learn about the types of facilities they have from our website and reports at planetary.org/ On neogrants, one word.

Mat Kaplan: Anyone else who wants to participate, please do so. Maybe I want to talk about the importance of amateur contributions, Kelly, did I see your hand?

Kelly Fast: Yes, I just want to comment. Well, first of all, since you mentioned the important contributions of amateurs, some people have some, it is hard to even call them amateur facilities, because they are very large, have very good capabilities, and actually help follow-up observations. Planet to asteroid center. Some of them are members of the International Asteroid Warning Network, so this is great. I also want to mention on the other end of the spectrum that if you don’t want to go out and buy equipment and just want to dip your toes in the water, then there are many citizen science opportunities, in asteroids and other regions.

Kelly Fast: NASA has a page about citizen science, and there is citizen science funded by NASA. The project I manage funded the International Astronomical Search Cooperation Organization, which allows school groups to use images from NASA-funded surveys for citizen science, trying to find things that may have been missed in the process. Therefore, once your local astronomy club or museum opens, you can participate in it in a variety of ways or contact them directly. At least, dip your toes in the water again and learn more. Then of course, you mentioned Bruce's website, on the Planetary Society website. That and other fields are great for educating how to understand this, just to see how far you want to go.

Paul Jordas: You can get some good resources. On JPL and this JPL website, you can think of the eyes of the solar system. You can put yourself near asteroids, in the orbits of asteroids, of course almost all That's it. This is a good way to understand the dynamics of asteroids. And our website, I have to plug it in again, as I always do, the CMEOS team provides a complete list of all methods to close. You can investigate what the next approach is, it is an important source of all statistics on NEO.

Mat Kaplan: Thank you team members, and more importantly, thank you for everything you are doing and will do in the future to help mankind prepare to defend this beautiful planet that we all share. We would also like to thank everyone here for joining us in this public event today. I hope that in two years, we will see you at the 8th Planetary Defense Conference. Thanks again and have a nice day.

Mat Kaplan: To see our great group members, their slides and videos, please visit planetary.org/live to watch the full event. But not only that, because what happened to Bruce and? It was a moment later. What happened again? I believe that on the planetary broadcast, they just came back from the planetary defense conference, where they saved the earth. Bruce Betts, chief scientist of the Planetary Society, congratulated him.

Bruce Bates: Well, this is an exercise. Things could have been better, but the real earth is very good, with a good view of the night sky. I have a lot to say, so if you don’t mind, would I skip to that?

Mat Kaplan: But I'm curious, because Paul Chodas didn't tell us that the exercise is over. Has CEIBS been eliminated?

Bruce Bates: I can neither confirm nor deny the destruction of Central Europe. This is an exercise. This is a very, very challenging exercise, as Paul might have discussed with you. He is really cunning, but it makes people think about really complicated things that you don't have enough time for. The real bottom line is that you need to observe when you have time, so you don't have time. Apart from evacuation and the target evacuation of the entire CEIBS, you can do very limited things.

Mat Kaplan: Look, I'm glad you didn't fly directly to the sky. But now we are ready to go there.

Bruce Bates: Okay. We got planets, we got all planets visible to the naked eye, even though Venus was really hard. It is super bright, but very low in the west shortly after sunset. Mercury is not so bright on it, but it will be higher in the next few weeks. As they get closer, Venus will get higher and higher and easier to see, and Mercury will get lower and lower. They will be half a degree apart on May 28, which is approximately the width of a full moon. Speaking of the moon, it will hover around Venus on the 12th, although it is difficult to see again, and just after it appears. On the 13th, be with Mercury, on the 15th with Mars, Mars in the southwest, look at Carrot in Gemini.

Bruce Bates: Then before dawn, we have Jupiter and Saturn. Now it is easy to see in the east and southeast. The moon will be with Saturn on the 31st. Jupiter will be the first one, but please wait and don’t go down. one. The best is yet to come. I have arranged a total lunar eclipse for you, oh, actually I will not claim to arrange it, because half of the world will be angry because I skipped them. For the total lunar eclipse on May 26, thanks to the international date change line, it is now May 26. No matter where you are, it is basically centered on the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, if you are in East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, you will be able to see it from the evening of the 26th.

Bruce Bates: If you are in the East Pacific, like us, you will be able to see it in the sky before dawn. If you are far from that center, you cannot see it. This time it was a short whole, only about 15 minutes of the whole. The moon is just off-center in the shadow of the earth, so it is a short-lived whole. You can find more information on the NASA eclipse page or on timeanddate.com, it is well customized according to your location, and you will be able to see it.

Mat Kaplan: Man, that was very busy. So will Southern California take the overall road?

Bruce Bates: Yes. Except for the southernmost point, because of you. Now, yes, California, west coast, when you are in central North America, central America, we will see all of it. You will only see all of it at sunrise. If you are on the east coast, you won't see a solar eclipse at all. If you are in Europe, well, there will be more and there will be others.

Mat Kaplan: If you are in Europe, I am glad you survived the exercise.

Bruce Bates: I'm glad this is just a test. Should this be a real asteroid impact? Well, let's make sure there is not one. OK? We continue [inaudible 01:05:19] facts.

Mat Kaplan: Guys, I think it will never end.

Bruce Bates: I thought I would go further, but I just thought everyone would hate it. So, I like this, Perseverance Mars Rover, you may have heard of this. It is roughly the same quality as the car Chevrolet Spark. Since all Chevrolet Sparks are on Earth, and one Perseverance is on Mars, gravity, so it currently weighs only 38% of Chevrolet Sparks. But their quality is about the same.

Mat Kaplan: I wanted to say something about Chevrolet Spark, but I don't want to have trouble with General Motors, so I won't. It's very interesting, I heard it compares with a golf cart. I think you can also compare Spark with golf carts.

Bruce Bates: Yes. It's hard to find a car of that low quality, but it's a big guy.

Mat Kaplan: Spark is not for your Chevrolet.

Bruce Bates: That's all for sponsorship. We quickly entered the trivia contest. After that comment, I think you wouldn’t be surprised when we discovered that the asteroid Kaplan was not named after, but we would discover who the asteroid Kaplan was named after. How do we do Matt?

Mat Kaplan: A very good response, a very sympathetic audience. thank you all. We will listen to the opinions of some of them, but first tell us who is named after it?

Bruce Bates: It was named after his cousin Samuel.

Bruce Bates: Your uncle Sam, ironically, he may be a Russian and Soviet astronomer, Samuel Aronovich Kaplan, born in 1921 and 1978. He is a Russian astronomer and astrophysicist at the Astronomical Observatory and Institute of Radio Physics of the University of Lviv, Ukraine. The Institute is located in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. He did a bunch of astronomical studies on white dwarfs and solar radiation, [inaudible 01:07:22] that sort of thing.

Matt Kaplan: Are we related? Many people want to know, I don't know. I have never done genealogy research or DNA or similar things, and he may not have either. Maybe offspring?

Bruce Bates: Yes. I guess he didn't perform a DNA test, well, go on.

Mat Kaplan: Robert Johannison found the same thing you did in Norway. This Kaplan... I should say that Kaplan works at the Institute of Radio Physics, where they are engaged in radio, radio astronomy, and radio engineering. Can you Do you see where I am going? So the radio.

Bruce Bates: It unites all Kaplan in the world.

Matt Kaplan: Yes. I tell you, Apple is not far from the institute, I guess. This is our winner. She is a beginner in Florida, Jennifer Dobbins, which is one of my states. Jennifer, congratulations. You did it with Samuil Aaronovitch Kaplan. I believe Jennifer has the last copy of the new pocket, the Mars Atlas. This is a great little book, a small pocket book. It must be a big pocket, but it is still a pocket size, assembled by Henrik Hargitai. Jennifer. I bet you will be able to get a small cutout, a small coverage map of Florida, and you can use it on these beautiful maps.

Mat Kaplan: I am now looking at my California, I can see through. Also from Europlanet, their central European hub. This is the last one we will give away. You might guess what we will give away in the new game, but first some other things, [Mark Dunning 01:09:04] In Florida, "Imagine, when I learned about this, my Isn’t the shock and disappointment named after our Kaplan, I mean, of course. Samuel may be a great person, but come on, asteroid center, there are two Kaplan spaces in our sky ,even more."

Mat Kaplan: [Elijah Marshall 01:09:21] from Australia, "You need to get in touch with the Catalina Sky Survey and get the names of Mat and Bruce on the asteroid. After all, Bill already owns 19695 Billnye." I don't know the boss. There is an asteroid, which is not surprising, I guess.

Bruce Bates: Well, ours will be better. No, I'm kidding.

Matt Kaplan: We are a bit close to this. [Cameron Landerson 01:09:46] In Texas, "Good luck to Bruce, at the Planetary Defense Conference," he sent this before the conference, of course, "Once they have to deal with it soon they will need it Discovered in 2021, Mat Danger Kaplan. Maybe he will think twice before using his middle name." [Eason Beglu 01:10:05] in Ontario, Canada. "Now I want to know what Bruce's full name is. Is the asteroid 21506 Betsill named after him?"

Bruce Bates: Of course. Betsills changed our name from...no, it's not. Absolutely not.

Mat Kaplan: [Michael Kasbowle 01:10:26] In Germany, "Maybe the rubble asteroid can be named after that, Mat Kaplan?"

Bruce Bates: Oh, I like that.

Mat Kaplan: All or just one? From our poet laureate. [Dave Fairchild 01:10:40] In Kansas, "Kaplan is an asteroid, we will visit it one day, and use it as part of what is later called OPA," extended reference for those who don’t immediately The interviewers realized this, "It respects the astrophysicist, and Samuil is his name, then when will our friendly host, Mat, become famous?" Finally, this is a big hope for Edwin King from the United Kingdom. "Hold on, Matt. You might get an exoplanet."

Bruce Bates: Oh, I stopped there. Let us break all the rules, here you are, maybe a dwarf planet in the solar system.

Mat Kaplan: That's appropriate, isn't it? Yes.

Bruce Bates: We can rename Uranus. I mean, in the English-speaking world, everyone feels uncomfortable with this. So it should be named after King George, so it is named after King Matt.

Mat Kaplan: If it were my planet, I think I would be a member of the royal family there. So I think it is appropriate

Bruce Bates: If possible, we would be happy to send you there.

Matt Kaplan: Yes, yes. I should have known. We are ready.

Bruce Bates: You are ready. Back to near-Earth asteroids, this is your mission. Name all the near-Earth asteroids that the spacecraft has touched? Oh, for all the near-Earth asteroids that the spacecraft has touched, please visit planetary.org/radiocontest.

Mat Kaplan: Oh, everyone, be careful of this. You must arrive on the 19th, which will be Wednesday. May 19, 8 am. Pacific Time, give us this answer. Did you guess right? I found your near-Earth asteroid here. It is made of rubber. If random.org chooses you and you have got the correct answer, then it may be yours. Let those cards and letters come and go. Go [crosstalk 01:12:27]-

Bruce Bates: The gravel asteroid MatKaplan, this week's Planetary Radio prize.

Mat Kaplan: Mat Danger Kaplan, I like that. I think I want to change my middle name. Say good night, Bruce.

Bruce Bates: Good night Bruce? Well, everyone goes out to look at the night sky and think about what you want to call Mat Kaplan around your house.

Mat Kaplan: We used to have a dog house, which...not suitable.

Bruce Bates: That would only be confusing, because Matt is always in mathematics.

Mat Kaplan: He is Bruce Bates, he is the chief scientist of the Planetary Society. He is always with us. What happened inside? Planetary Radio is produced by the Planetary Society in Pasadena, California, and its members just make it possible to save the world. You can become a planetary defender at planetary.org/join. Mark Hilverda is our associate producer, and Josh Doyle composed our theme song, arranged and performed by Pieter Schlosser. Astra ads.

Listen to more: Planetary Radio, Interview, World, Small Celestial Body, Asteroid, Near-Earth Asteroid, Space Theme, Planetary Defense, Space Mission, Mars Mission, MMX, Small Celestial Mission, DART, Hayabusa 2, Hera, Astronomy And astrophysics missions, NEO surveyors, wide-area infrared survey detectors (WISE) and NEOWISE

You are here: Home> Planetary Radio

Guest: Adam Mackay Amy Mainzer Bruce Bates Matt Kaplan

Guest: Heidi Hamel Casey Dreyer Matt Kaplan

Guests: James Green • Mary Voytek • Kate Howells • Bruce Betts • Mat Kaplan

When you became a member, you joined our mission to increase our discoveries in the solar system and other regions, enhance the exploration of extraterrestrial life, and reduce the risk of the Earth being hit by asteroids.

Your role in space exploration now begins.

Sign up for updates, weekly tools and exclusive opportunities to support space exploration.

You can opt out at any time. Check our privacy policy.

Enable citizens of the world to advance space science and exploration.

© 2021 Planetary Society. all rights reserved. Privacy Policy • Cookie Statement Planetary Society is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

For all functions of this website to work, JavaScript must be enabled. Below are instructions on how to enable JavaScript in a web browser.