Planetary Defense Coordination Office

The Planetary Defense Coordination Office is a planetary defense organization within NASA’s Planetary Science Division. Its mission is to lead the coordination of interagency and intergovernmental efforts to plan responses to potential impact threats.[1] Announced by NASA in January 2016, it is given the job of cataloging and tracking potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, such as, asteroids and comets, which are larger than 30 to 50 m in diameter (compare to the 20-m Chelyabinsk meteor) and coordinating an effective threat response and mitigation effort.[2][3]

There are two basic types of objects of concern: near-Earth objects, referred to, as, NEO's, and potentially hazardous asteroids, referred to, as, PHA's.

NASA, in cooperation with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), have worked, various, impact-threat scenarios, in order to learn the best approach to the threat of an incoming impactor.


The office will continue to use the polar orbiting infrared telescope NEOWISE to detect any potentially hazardous object.[4]

See also


References
  1. The Christian Science Monitor (11 January 2016). "NASA creates office to coordinate protection against asteroids". The Christian Science Monitor.
  2. "Planetary Defense Coordination Office". nasa.gov. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  3. "NASA is opening a new office for planetary defense". extremetech.com. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  4. "This Is How NASA's Planetary Defense Office Will Protect Planet Earth From Asteroid Collisions". techtimes.com. Retrieved 18 January 2016.


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