"Canada will launch a suitcase-sized satellite in 2009 to spot potentially dangerous asteroids near Earth's orbit. It will be the first space mission devoted to hunting asteroids and may help find ones that are difficult to spot from the ground.
Asteroids and comets occasionally hit Earth, with devastating consequences - a 10-kilometre-wide asteroid is thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs. To date, more than 5000 such objects have been found with orbits that take them close to Earth's.
Scientists are using ground-based telescopes to track down more of the near-Earth objects (NEOs) to determine if any could potentially hit the planet in the foreseeable future. But some of these objects are difficult to see from the ground.
Now, the Canadian Space Agency plans to launch the world's first space-based telescope dedicated to hunting NEOs.
The suitcase-sized Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) weighs just 60 kilograms and will cost a mere $10 million to build and launch.
It will rely on a telescope with a 15-centimetre mirror, smaller than many backyard telescopes used by amateur astronomers. Chief scientists for the mission are Alan Hildebrand of the University of Calgary and Brad Wallace of Defence Research and Development Canada."
Link to full article
Link to full article
