"To Protect or Swerve: NASA's Planetary Defense Initiative and Meteorite Research"

Dr. Ralph Harvey of Case Western Reserve University will present a lecture on NASA's plans and initiatives to protect Earth from a major asteroid impact. The solar system is a shooting gallery with millions of rocks floating around. Every once in a while, we encounter one big enough to create serious damage. Compiling data and developing defense systems is the job of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office. The recently completed Dart mission was a test of one concept to modify the orbit of an asteroid. After the lecture, the Burrell Observatory will be open for viewing, weather permitting.