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The Future
The map Sentinel creates will be accurate for at least one hundred years
and with the insight it provides, it would seem certain that future genera-
tions will update it as needed. The map will be a permanent gift to humanity
and indeed every living thing on Earth. Currently only about ten thousand
of the asteroids flying past near Earth are known. By the end of the sur-
vey, about a million will have been found. The primary goal is to protect
the Earth from disaster, but this will also provide an extraordinary list of
potential destinations for exploration by unmanned scientific craft or even
human visitors.
Having the Vision
Remember that we enjoy, indeed take for granted, so many things in the
present because fifteen years ago perhaps just one individual imagined the
future fifteen years ahead and had the courage to pursue it. There are numer-
ous examples, such as all the electronics we use and services like Google
or Facebook.
Ed Lu is just such a person, with his team imagining a future when Earth
will no longer have to live in fear of asteroids. Helping support the Sentinel
Space Telescope now, while it is just such a vision, will make this a safer
planet within a mere ten years.
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UP&OUT
To learn more or contribute please visit the B612 foundation at www.B612foundation.org
Conception of giant
asteroid Apophis being
blasted by laser to steer it
away from earth: courtesy
Dan Durda © 2010