PARTNERSHIP TO BUILD INNOVATIVE TELESCOPE

"Among the DCT’s numerous scientific objectives, the search for near-Earth asteroids, Kuiper Belt Objects and planets orbiting other stars, will be substantially advanced."

"Approximately 2,300 near-Earth asteroids have been discovered in the last decade. Once complete, the DCT will make it possible to identify the same number of potentially life-threatening near-Earth asteroids in just 30 days. The DCT also will make it possible to identify smaller near-Earth asteroids capable of causing regional devastation. Currently, the federally mandated search for near-Earth asteroids focuses on objects that are larger than a kilometer in diameter and capable of creating global devastation."

Lowell currently runs the LONEOS search program for NEA's which is extremely successful considering its telescope's paltry 0.6 m diameter compared to the 1.0, 1.2, and even 2.0 m diameters of the other major programs.

"If Pan-STARRS and LSST both get built along with this scope we may not even need the programs recommended here let alone the huge money wasting projects recommended by some here.

Just goes to show you NEA search programs and telescopes should be designed by real astronmers not internet windbags.

Regards,
Mark