NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge: Interview with Jason Kessler
The narrative around asteroids has largely been one of ‘Impact-Threat Science’. The concept that asteroids are a threat has lead to a push in reconfiguring astronomy as ‘interventionist science’, ultimately suggesting militaristic endings. Many other asteroid scientists suggest contrasting innovative solutions. We caught up with Jason Kessler, Program Executive of NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge at the Border Sessions Festival in The Hague, where he was one of the speakers.
NEOO, ARM and AGC:
In 1998, NASA initiated Near Earth Objects (NEO) Observations programs with the aim to discover 90% of the NEOs larger than one kilometer in diameter and in 2005, Congress extended that goal to include 90% of the NEOs larger than 140 meters. The programs have been remarkably successful at achiev...