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The Impact Hazard: Advanced NEO Surveys and Societal Responses

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Comet/Asteroid Impacts and Human Society

Abstract

The Earth is immersed in a swarm of Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) capable of colliding with our planet, a fact that has become widely recognized within the past decade. The first comprehensive modern analysis of the impact hazard resulted from a NASA study requested by the United States Congress. This Spaceguard Survey Report (Morrison 1992) provided a quantitative estimate of the impact hazard as a function of impactor size (or energy) and advocated a strategy to deal with such a threat.

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Morrison, D. (2007). The Impact Hazard: Advanced NEO Surveys and Societal Responses. In: Bobrowsky, P.T., Rickman, H. (eds) Comet/Asteroid Impacts and Human Society. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-32711-0_8

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