Here's the key quote, Gary:
(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section the term ‘‘near-Earth object’’ means an asteroid or comet with a perihelion distance of less that 1.3 Astronomical Units from the Sun.
(d) NEAR-EARTH OBJECT SURVEY.—
(1) SURVEY PROGRAM.—The Administrator shall plan, develop, and implement a Near-Earth
Object Survey program to detect, track, catalogue, and characterize the physical characteristics of near-Earth objects equal to or greater than 100 meters in diameter in order to assess the threat of such near-Earth objects to the Earth. It shall be the goal of the Survey program to achieve 90 percent completion of its near-Earth object catalogue (based on statistically predicted populations of near-Earth objects) within 15 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
(2) AMENDMENTS.—Section 102 of the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (42 2
U.S.C. 2451) is amended—
(A) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (h);
(B) by inserting after subsection (f) the following new subsection:
‘‘(g) The Congress declares that the general welfare and security of the United States require that the unique competence of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration be directed to detecting, tracking, cataloguing, and characterizing near-Earth asteroids and comets in order to provide warning and mitigation of the potential hazard of such near-Earth objects to the Earth.’’; and 15
(C) in subsection (h), as so redesignated by subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, by striking ‘‘and (f)’’ and inserting ‘‘(f), and (g)’’.
(3) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Administrator shall transmit to the Congress, not later than February 20
28 of each of the next 5 years beginning after the date of enactment of this Act, a report that provides the following:
(A) A summary of all activities taken pursuant to paragraph (1) for the previous fiscal year.
(B) A summary of expenditures for all activities pursuant to paragraph (1) for the previous fiscal year.
(4) INITIAL REPORT.—The Administrator shall transmit to Congress not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act an initial report that provides the following:
(A) An analysis of possible alternatives that the the Administration may employ to carry out the Survey program, including ground-based and space-based alternatives with technical descriptions.
(B) A recommended option and proposed budget to carry out the Survey program pursuant to the recommended option.
(C) An analysis of possible alternatives that the Administration could employ to divert
an object on a likely collision course with Earth.
note in particular the report called for in 4(A), which is Dr. Mazanek's team's study.
By the way, Rep Rohrabacher's district is in coastal California, and the estimated trajectory of Apophis has increased the support for this of every member representing the Pacific coast
Space/Science » in reply to Key quote
Once again, It's not Flags an Footprints on the Moon, it's CAPS
