Astronaut Delivers Earth Day Message on Planetary Defense at the Museum of Flight

SEATTLE – On Earth Day, April 22, at The Museum of Flight, astronaut Dr. Ed Lu, will deliver a public lecture by about “Defending Earth from Asteroids.” Lu is CEO of the B612 Sentinel Mission. The mission aims to build a spacecraft that will map the frontier of space and track the asteroids that may impact Earth.

From a Venus-like orbit around the Sun, the Sentinel Space Telescope will be the most capable system for finding and tracking asteroids ever built. “The goal of the B612 Sentinel Mission,” says Lu, “is to find and track asteroids decades before they hit Earth, allowing us to easily deflect them.” In other words, Sentinel’s lofty goal is to prevent our civilization from meeting the fate of the dinosaurs when a big asteroid hit the Earth. The program is free and at 4 p.m.

Ed Lu
American NASA astronaut who flew three space missions including a stint of six months on the International Space Station, currently serves as CEO of the B612 Foundation. He previously led the Advanced Projects group at Google, where his teams developed imaging technology for Google Earth/Maps, Google Street View, and energy information products including Google PowerMeter. He is the co-inventor of the Gravity Tractor, a spacecraft able to controllably alter the orbit of an asteroid. He has published scientific articles on high-energy astrophysics, solar physics, plasma physics, cosmology, and statistical physics.

Sentinal Mission
The Sentinel Mission is the first privately funded interplanetary mission and a model for future space exploration. The Sentinel Space Telescope will provide a unique opportunity for the public to take ownership in a historic space mission that will protect Earth, while providing the necessary roadmap for future exploration. The mission is led by a world-class team of astrophysicists and aerospace engineers, and will map the trajectories of asteroids that may pose a future danger to humanity-giving us the time we need to deflect them. For the first time in history, we in the private sector have the people, technology, and experience needed to carry out this incredible mission.

For Museum information, please call 206-764-5720 or visit www.museumofflight.org