Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                                    
March 31, 1992
(Phone:  202/453-1549)


RELEASE:  92-43

NASA COMPLETES ASTEROID WORKSHOP STUDIES


     NASA today presented Congress with summaries of workshop 
studies on detecting Earth-orbit-crossing asteroids and 
determining how to deal with such threats.  The two workshops 
were in response to a congressional request included in the 
Fiscal Year 1991 NASA authorization bill.

     The NASA-sponsored Near-Earth-Object Detection Workshop 
judged asteroids with diameters 1 km or larger the most dangerous 
objects in terms of potential for causing catastrophic global 
effects on Earth.  Impacts of such asteroids are extremely rare 
and can be detected with current ground-based technology, most 
likely decades in advance of any collision.

     The workshop's proposed detection plan builds on research 
programs that NASA has funded for a number of years.  The plan 
calls for a coordinated international network of specialized 
ground-based telescopes for detecting Earth-approaching 
asteroids.

     The Near-Earth-Object Interception Workshop was hosted by 
the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory in 
January 1992.  Participants at this three-day workshop discussed 
various schemes for preventing an asteroid from colliding with 
Earth. 


Editors Note:

     General summaries of these two reports can be obtained from 
the NASA Headquarters Newsroom by calling 202/453-8400.  The 
detailed findings of the Detection Workshop will be available 
from the NASA Newsroom on April 2, 1992.  The detailed findings 
and technical papers presented at the Interception Workshop will 
be available from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, 
505/667-7000, in the summer of 1992. 

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