The B612 Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c) 3 organization dedicated to opening up the frontier of space exploration and protecting humanity from asteroid impacts.
On June 28, 2012, the Foundation announced its plans to build and operate the first privately funded, launched, and operated interplanetary mission – an infrared space telescope to be placed in orbit around the Sun to discover, map, and track asteroids whose orbits approach Earth and threaten humanity.
Sentinel is a space-based infrared (IR) survey mission to discover and catalog 90 percent of the asteroids larger than 140 meters in Earth’s region of the solar system. The mission should also discover a significant number of smaller asteroids down to a diameter of 30 meters. Sentinel will be launched into a Venus-like orbit around the sun, which significantly improves the efficiency of asteroid discovery during its 6.5 year mission.
By detective and tracking nearly all of the Near Earth Objects greater than 50 meters in diameter, Sentinel will create a map of the solar system in Earth’s neighborhood enabling future robotic and manned exploration. The Sentinel data will also identify objects that are potentially hazardous to humans to provide an early warning to protect the Earth from impact.
Great post Stephen, excellent theme.
ReplyDeleteYvonne.
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ReplyDeleteI really, really wish I had the sciencey kind of brain that meant I could work in such a place. Hey, I could be their systems librarian! hehe
ReplyDeleteI am always blown away by the feats made in science, especially in the realm of astronomy.
ReplyDeleteSo good to know this once ScyFi info that is RightNow technology. I feel safer already. BigBangUp Job, AJ
ReplyDeleteSue~CollectInTexasGal
AtoZ LoneStar Quilting Bee
Hi Chase, Very cool information. My kids and I are going to study astronomy next year. These posts will come in handy. Thanks for the education. God bless, Maria from Delight Directed Living
ReplyDeleteHere's my obligatory Bruce Willis/Armageddon reference.
ReplyDeleteThat's really cool, though. There's a nonprofit org out there dedicated to keeping the world safe from asteroids.
Good luck with the rest of the A to Z challenge!
--Stelios from d20 Dark Ages
Wow, what an ambitious mission! But what valuable data they'll collect. Go private sector!
ReplyDeleteTina @ Life is Good
Co-host, April 2013 A-Z Challenge Blog
@TinaLifeisGood, #atozchallenge
I've never heard of B612 before. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteA to Z: http://www.deborahdera.com
I like the 'protect humanity from asteroid impacts' part. Very important.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, sir!
(FYI...your human verification thing is on. Didn't know if you wanted it or if it defaulted.)
HMG
Cool! This is an organization with its eyes on the future.
ReplyDeleteLee
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog
That's awesome! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAn important endeavor indeed. Again, this brings my imagination to a boil, especially because I do like movies about mass destruction.
ReplyDeleteWait, I thought B612 was a vitamin. Okay, I have to read this again.
ReplyDeleteI know this is important...but I hope it isn't costing any money!
Captcha is still on...I-am-not-a-ro-bot.
Mainely Write
It would be nice if it could protect us from each other too, i.e., nuclear bombs, etc. Never heard of this, now that I have, I look forward to hearing more.
ReplyDeleteYou always info and entertain :D
ReplyDeleteNicely done Stephen~
Great 'B' day post, I'll be digging for much more information on this project! Thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing attention to this project. Looks promising and can't wait to hear more!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great project. Space is truly amazing.
ReplyDeleteA Very interesting project I'm learning so much from this A to Z Challenge.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I like that it's doing double duty and I agree that space is amazing. I just wish I was going to be round to see us explore it!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone is looking out for us Earthlings.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite frightening to realise what is out there beyond what we can see.
ReplyDeleteOoo, that's so cool. I love learning more about space! I can't help but wonder who else is out there whenever I look up at the starry night sky.
ReplyDeleteHappy A to Z-ing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines
Sorry to hear about your blog woes! Luckily for me, I connected your character's name to you, or else it would have taken me ages to get back to your blog.
ReplyDeleteMonitoring near-earth objects is a great idea.
I hope B612 Foundation gets some donations out of this.
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