Article Posted on : - Sep 11, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC (BNS): The Association of Space Explorers (ASE) Near-Earth Object (NEO) Committee will meet in San Francisco, from September 22-25 to discuss the final findings and recommendations of 'Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response' before submitting it to the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

The report will be discussed by COPUOS in its 2009 sessions in Vienna, Austria.

On the final day, after all deliberations, details about the report will be briefed to the media at the Offices of the Google Foundation in San Francisco, California

In the last two years, astronauts and cosmonauts from 33 countries have been a park of a programme to protect the Earth from the impact of asteroids. During this time, ASE NEO panel organised four workshops with the global panel to identify and address the international legal, political, scientific and disaster management aspects of the asteroid challenge.

Russia also backed the idea of having a international cooperation to deal with the asteroid threat.

"The problem really exists, and we need to think about how to solve it - naturally through broad international cooperation within the framework of the UN," the head of the federal space agency Anatoly Perminov said in an interview to the Russian daily Krasnaya Zvezda.
The Russian radar facility, RF-70, used by the Space Forces, could be useful in dealing with the threat, RIA Novosti reported.

While Russian scientists believe nuclear explosive devices are best for destroying the Earth-threatening asteroids and comets, scientists around the world feel blowing up NEOs could further aggravate the problem. The explosion could result in large fragments, which survive any blast, continuing on their collision path with Earth.

Near Earth Objects (NEOs) threatens the planet once every 200-1,000 years.