Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) is urging NASA and the federal government to consider the threat of an impact by a near Earth object (NEO). The Long Beach (CA) Press-Telegram reports that Rohrabacher will make “direct appeals” to NASA administrator Michael Griffin and other officials this week to urge them “to take seriously the threat of an asteroid hitting the Earth, and designate responsibility for defending against such an occurrence.” The article adds that both Rohrabacher and Rusty Schweickart, the former astronaut who has been beating the drum of late on one NEO in particular, 2004 MN4, “denied promoting the creation of an entirely new federal agency to fend off asteroids, as an online technology magazine had reported,” a reference to the Wired News article on the topic last week (which Wired has already corrected.)
I wonder if Rohrabacher will keep it up and mention it next time he is on Bill Mahr. He is smart enough not too, but I’m afraid of the chicken little jokes as this is a concern of mine.