NASA Administrator and 2019 Wash100 Award winner Jim Bridenstine said the agency needs to ramp up efforts to detect and identify near-Earth objects that could pose an impact risk, SpaceNews reported Monday.
“We’re only about a third of the way there and the law that has been passed says that NASA is required to be able to detect, track and characterize not just one third but 90 percent of them, which means we have to use our systems, use our capabilities, to ultimately get a lot more data, and we have to do it faster,†he said Monday during his keynote speech at the Planetary Defense Conference in Maryland. “We want more international partners that can join us in this effort. We want more systems on the face of the Earth that can detect and track these objects.â€
Following his speech, Bridenstine said that he supports the idea of having a dedicated line for planetary defense missions in NASA’s budget request. Other topics he discussed at the event are the Near Earth Object Camera mission and the agency’s plan to bring astronauts to the moon by 2024 using the Space Launch System.
About the Wash100
The Wash100 award, now in its sixth year, recognizes the most influential executives in the GovCon industry as selected by the Executive Mosaic team in tandem with online nominations from the GovCon community. Representing the best of the private and public sector, the winners demonstrate superior leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement and vision.
Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2019 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2019.
