Members of the Committee on Near Earth Objects
The ASE Committee on Near Earth Objects was formed to oversee the delivery of the ASE Open Letter on NEOs to world leaders and relevant international organizations. It will also seek opportunities, as reflected in the letter, to support both national and international efforts to address the challenges implicit in protecting the Earth from near-Earth object impacts. We will actively seek to support national and international organizations in organizing meetings and workshops dealing with NEO issues as well as provide expert testimony for such meetings. As of the end of December 2005, we have participated in a UK conference on NEOs sponsored by the Royal Aeronautical Society and we have been made members of Action Team 14 of the UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). As part of being made members of AT-14 we also distributed the ASE Open Letter on NEOs to the full membership of the Action Team (UN representatives from 21 nations). The ASE was represented at the annual meeting of Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) of the UN's Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) in Vienna, Austria, 20 Feb - 3 Mar, by NEO Committee chair Rusty Schweickart, Committee member Dorin Prunariu, as well as by ASE Executive Committee member Franz Viehbock. The committee prepared a professional paper and presentation, "NEO Deflection; An International Challenge" which were presented to the plenary session of the STSC on 28 Feb 2006, by Rusty Schweickart. Franz Viehbock, in whose hometown the COPUOS sessions take place, presented the ASE's formal intervention in the proceedings, noting the ASE's Open Letter to World Leaders and our commitment to working with the international community in addressing the NEO challenge. The technical presentation was very well received by COPUOS and generated a great deal of discussion and appreciation by the national delegates present. The future work of the NEO Committee includes the conduct of a series of four international workshops on NEO deflection decision-making, culminating in the presentation of a draft UN Protocol on NEO Deflection to the United Nations via COPUOS in 2009. The committee has organized a preeminent group of international experts in diplomacy, international law, space policy and other disciplines as the invited Principals in workshops. It is this distinguished Principals who will draft the UN proposal. The Committee's intent is to secure independent funding to sponsor the NEO Deflection workshops, from established international foundations, private foundations and individuals. Workshop Dates:
Committee Reports:
The NEO Committee is supported in part by grants from the following organizations: The Mitchell Kapor Foundation ($50,000) The Committee is also working with the Secure World Foundation on this project. |