to be on a near collision with Earth, what can be done to prevent disaster? One suggestion is to attach a nuclear bomb to the rock that will blow it into a harmless orbit. Tracking down potential killer asteroids is the job ofresearchers involved in several ground-based programs. Examples include the JetPropulsion Laboratory's (JPL) fully automated Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) system, the University of Arizona's Spacewatch program, the Lowell Observatory Near Earth Object Survey (LONEOS), and the Lincoln Laboratory's LINEAR Program (Gottschalk 38). NASA has announced its goal to locate, by the year 2010, at least 90percent of all asteroids larger than 1 kilometer across that can threaten the Earth. Tobe set up at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the Near-Earth Object Program Office will be headed by JPL astronomer Donald K. Yeomans. Inaddition the new office will maintain up-to-date orbital elements and assess impact probabilities (Anonymous I 1) In the end. asteroids will be either our nemesis, causing problems we have never faced before or they will be our saviors in space. They will provide us with resources to carry on throughout the solar system end beyond....
