N° 11–2020: ESA highlights protection for our planet ahead of international Asteroid Day

“The work of ESA and the international planetary defence community is a great example of how to address this important hazard,” says ESA Director General Jan Wörner. “An asteroid impact is a natural disaster we might be able to avoid, if we see one coming soon enough.”

“Even when the probability is low, governments and international organisations such as the UN working together show that it is possible to get ready in advance and mitigate damage from a global threat that can affect anyone, anywhere.”

Current ESA activities include:

• Detailed design work is proceeding on ESA’s first planetary defence validation mission: the Hera spacecraft will fly to the Didymos asteroid pair in 2024, following on from NASA’s DART mission due to be launched next year, which will deflect the smaller asteroid.
• ESA’s long-running asteroid observations have resumed, following a brief pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Near-Earth asteroids are identified and tracked from various telescopes across Europe and the world.
• ESA’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) Coordination Centre in Italy continues to coordinate asteroid observations and assess risks from newly discovered objects, despite the serious Covid-19 effects in that country.
• The first of ESA’s new multi-optic ‘Flyeye’ telescopes is under construction near Milan, and will facilitate the automated detection of asteroids once in operation.
• ESA’s deep-space ground stations have contributed communication coverage for Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission, which is now headed Earthward after collecting samples from an asteroid.
• ESA is sponsoring a Grand Challenge on In-Situ Resource Utilisation for the Moon and asteroids, allowing future explorers to make use of materials found in space. Temporarily suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this €500 000 competition is set to resume soon.
• The Agency’s suitcase-sized ‘Miniature Asteroid Remote Geophysical Observer’ (M-Argo) spacecraft is about to undergo its Preliminary Requirements Review, where experts will declare this audacious mission feasible.
• ESA’s Comet Interceptor mission, planned to launch near the end of this decade, will wait in space for a suitable body -- potentially even an interstellar comet -- to investigate.

ESA and Space Safety

Under the Agency’s Space Safety Programme, which received an important boost in funding at the Space19+ Ministerial Council in November 2019, ESA is taking action as part of an international effort to mitigate asteroid risks.

ESA’s goal is to coordinate Europe’s part of a global planetary defence effort, aimed at detecting, studying and following asteroids, predicting if and when they might hit and taking mitigation action if needed.

UN Asteroid Day

On 30 June 1908, the Tunguska impact felled many millions of trees across 2200 sq km of Siberian territory, only a few hours of Earth rotation away from Europe – the results would have been disastrous over a populated area.

Asteroid Day, a UN-endorsed awareness campaign day to mark this historic date, was co-founded by astrophysicist and famed musician Dr Brian May of the rock group Queen, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, filmmaker Grig Richters, and B612 President Danica Remy.

Asteroid Day TV supported by ESA

This year, activities to mark Asteroid Day are moving entirely online, and include a month of Asteroid Day TV distributed by the Luxembourg-based Asteroid Foundation and including programming by ESA as well as top content makers including Discovery Science, TED, IMAX, BBC, CNN, ESO and other educational producers.

Asteroid Day TV will distribute Asteroid Day LIVE from Luxembourg starting 30 June at 12:00 CEST including five hours of ESA and Asteroid Day programme segments newly produced for 2020 in English.

ESA is also planning new programme segments in Dutch, French, German, Italian and Spanish. These will premiere in advance of 30 June.

All segments will be broad- and webcast to the public via AsteroidDay.org, via SES Satellite and to other broadcasters via satellite and digital CDN via RTL’s Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE).

Segments will also be available via ESA WebTV and ESA’s YouTube channel.

ESA programming schedule

ESA’s Asteroid Day 2020 dedicated-language segments will premiere in Asteroid Day TV (followed by frequent replay until 4 July) as follows:

Italian                    24 June 17:00-18:00 CEST
German                25 June 17:00-18:00 CEST
French                  25 June 18:30-19:30 CEST
Dutch                    26 June 11:00-12:00 CEST
Spanish                26 June 17:00-18:00 CEST 
English                 30 June 12:00-13:00 CEST and 18:00-19:00 CEST

More information and full broadcast schedule via https://asteroidday.org/broadcast-schedule/

Support to media

In view of the significant constraints due to COVID-19, ESA has prepared the following resources and services specifically for media.

Interview opportunities
Media may request interviews in a variety of languages via phone, email and Skype with ESA scientists, mission managers, programme managers and other experts by sending email to: media@esa.int.
ESA experts are available to take part in media interviews for TV, radio, web and social media.

Broadcasters
Asteroid Day TV is being broadcast worldwide courtesy of SES to over 100 million households worldwide. Broadcasters wishing to re-transmit the programming at no cost via satellite or digital feed will find details via https://asteroidday.org/broadcast-schedule/

eMedia kit
Links to ESA digital assets, including reusable text, images, videos, animations, trailers and infographics: https://download.esa.int/esoc/AD/ESA_Asteroid_Day_2020_media-links.pdf
ESA Asteroid Day FAQ for media: http://download.esa.int/esoc/AD/esa_planetary_defence_2020_FAQ.pdf

Join the Asteroid Day conversation on social media

Hashtags:  #AsteroidDay #PlanetaryDefence #WhenTheAtmosphereIsntEnough 
Website: AsteroidDay.org
Twitter: @esa @esaoperations @esa_tech @asteroidday
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/asteroidday
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AsteroidDay
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/asteroidday
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asteroidday 

Further information

More information about ESA planetary defence and the Space Safety Programme: https://www.esa.int/planetarydefence and https://www.esa.int/spacesafety
More information about ESA’s Hera mission via: https://www.esa.int/hera
More information about ESA’s NEO Coordination Centre: https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Near-Earth_Object_Coordination_Centre
More information about ESA’s Flyeye telescopes: https://www.esa.int/flyeye
More information about ESA: https://www.esa.int
More information about Asteroid Day: https://www.asteroidday.org

Asteroid Day’s major partners include: Association of Space Explorers (ASE), B612 Foundation, Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE), EC GROUP, ESA, Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), OHB SE, and SES. Asteroid Day, Asteroid Day LIVE, Asteroid Day TV and SpaceConnectsUs are all programmes of Asteroid Foundation, a Luxembourg based non-profit. 

About the European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA) provides Europe’s gateway to space.

ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.

ESA has 22 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Slovenia is an Associate Member.

ESA has established formal cooperation with seven Member States of the EU. Canada takes part in some ESA programmes under a Cooperation Agreement.

Learn more about ESA at www.esa.int

For press enquiries

ESA Newsroom and Media Relations Office – Ninja Menning
Email: media@esa.int
Tel: +31 71 565 6409