Media Alert: State of Planetary Defense and Asteroid Science

• DATE: 27 June, 2019
• TIME: 5:00 PM CEST, 11:00 AM EDT, 8:00 AM PDT,  
• DURATION: 30 Minutes Presentations; 15 Minutes Q&A
  • Please log on or call in 5 minutes in advance
• You must RSVP to participate: Diane@asteroidday.org
• Call-in Information will be provided upon RSVP

The State of Planetary Defense and Asteroid Science is presented by the Asteroid Foundation as part of Asteroid Day programming organized in Luxembourg. We are inviting a select group of journalists to join with Asteroid Day experts and Astronauts for a discussion of the state of planetary science and status of programs and missions to better detect, track, analyze, predict and deflect asteroids.

On 20 June, the Associated Press released the results of a poll conducted by the AP and Norc Center for Public Affairs which found that the US public rated asteroid and comet tracking as the number one priority for NASA, more important than human spaceflight. Updates on all international missions will be discussed, including OSIRIS-REx, Hayabusa2, DART and HERA.

Participating journalists are invited to ask questions and engage in the conversation, which is the aim of Asteroid Day.

Experts Participating in the Briefing:

• Dr. Mark Boslough (US) Chair of the Asteroid Day Expert Panel (ADXP) and expert on planetary impacts.  He is a physicist at Los Alamos National Lab, and was the first US scientist to visit the site of the Chelyabinsk airburst, his simulations of the event appearing on the covers of ‘Nature” and ‘Physics Today.’
• Dr. Ed Lu (US) Physicist and former NASA Astronaut, Ed currently serves as executive director of the Asteroid Institute, a scientific and research organization working closely with the University of Washington, Southwest Research Institute, AGI, Google, and other international academic and science institutions as well as  governments to study detect, track, and analyze asteroids. (US)
• Patrick Michel (FR) Planetary scientist with a PhD in Astrophysics, senior researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and leader of the ‘Theories and Observations in Planetology’ team at the LaGrange Laboratory of the Cote d’Azur Observatory in Nice. He serves as co-investigator of NASA’s New Frontiers OSIRIS-REx and JAXA’s Hayabusa2, and as PI of the Hera Mission project.
• Marc Serres (Luxembourg) CEO of the Luxembourg Space Agency. He heads the Luxembourg Delegation at the European Space Agency (ESA) and represents Luxembourg in the Council of ESA. He is also the vice-chairman of the ESA Council until June 2020. Previously, he managed Luxembourg’s relations with ESA at the Ministry of Higher Education and Research as an industrial policy officer for 8 years. Marc Serres holds a PhD in optoelectronics and a Masters in electrical engineering, specializing in microwave frequencies, both from the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium.

About Asteroid Day

Asteroid Day was co-founded in 2014, by Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist and lead guitarist for the rock band Queen; Danica Remy, B612 President; Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart; and filmmaker Grig Richters. Asteroid Day is held on 30 June each year to mark Earth’s largest asteroid impact in recorded history, the Siberia Tunguska event.  In 2016, Asteroid Day was declared by the United Nations as a global day of education to raise awareness about asteroids opportunities and risks and the Asteroid Day Foundation was formed with headquarters in Luxembourg. Global partners include: Association of Space Explorers, B612, OHB SE, SES, BCE, EC GROUP, and Luxembourg Space Agency. Asteroid Day Gala sponsors in 2019 include Tito’s Homemade Vodka, Luxaviation  and Banque Internationale à Luxembourg.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Join us in the Asteroid Day conversation:

• TWITTER: @asteroidday #AsteroidDay, #AsteroidDayLive;
• FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/AsteroidDay #AsteroidDay, #AsteroidDayLive
• YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/user/asteroidday

MEDIA KIT, including quotes from supporters and partners, photos, video, and BROLL, are available in the Asteroid Day Newsroom.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]