Re: Planetary Protection Officer

On Tue, 16 Jul 2002 14:02:08 +0200 (CEST), KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de
wrote:

>Do you know NASA actually has a Planetary Protection Officer whose task
>is to protect Earth from invasion by alien lifeforms ?

I saw on TV recently that the US Army (yes, Army, not Air Force) has an
officer in charge of spotting planet killing asteroids, comets, etc.
before
they hit the Earth. I don't think he's an astronomer, but more like the
army
liason in case someone finds something heading our way. Not that there's
much
that could be done about it...

I also saw, in the same programme, that there's a good chance of a
planet
killer striking the Earth in, I think it was, 2840. It was sometime in
the
2800s anyway. Not that any of _us_ will have to worry about it, but that
seems
awfully close by historically speaking.

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"At long last, the earthy soil of the typical, 
unimaginable mortician was revealed!" 
 - from the Random H.P. Lovecraft Story Generator: