Programs Will Be Offered In Washington, D.C. And Online

The National Air and Space Museum will host “Asteroid Day: Defending Planet Earth” June 30 at the museum in Washington, D.C., and online. A panel of asteroid experts will discuss the threats asteroids pose and how to protect the Earth from the danger they may cause. This is part of the global “Asteroid Day” event, marking the 110th anniversary of the largest impact-related incident in modern history when, June 30, 1908, an asteroid caused a massive air blast that flattened thousands of square miles in Siberia.

“Asteroid Day: Defending Planet Earth” will feature Jim Zimbelman, geologist in the museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, who will speak on the importance of impacts throughout the solar system. NASA astronaut Tom Jones will discuss the asteroid hazard from a scientist-astronaut’s perspective, and NASA scientists Lindley Johnson and Kelly Fast will speak about NASA’s planetary-defense activities. The panel will be moderated by Cheryl Reed, who works on the asteroid-deflection demonstration mission at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.

The live discussion will take place from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in the Moving Beyond Earth gallery and will be broadcast live online on the Asteroid Day website.

This program is in recognition of Asteroid Day, a U.N.-sanctioned global awareness campaign.

(Image provided with NASM news release)

FMI: airandspace.si.edu