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Blue Dot 97: Planetary Defense

In this episode we talk defense. Planetary defense. From one of the worst of all possible natural diasters, an asteroid impact. Dave talks to Lindley Johnson, NASA's "Planetary Defense Officer" from HQ in Washington, Paul Chodas (an expert on calculating asteroid orbits) and Physicist Megan Bruck Syal from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Pasadena. Johnson and Syal are involved in HAMMER ( Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response), a mission designed to actually deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. One thing that all of our guests mentioned: "This isn't like the movie Armageddon" and while we get that, we also felt the need for a little Aerosmith in the show, and you don't want to miss a thing...so listen and enjoy while contemplating the worst of all possible natural calamities.

Dave Schlom is the longtime host and creator of Blue Dot. From surfing to Voyager in interstellar space, rock guitar to orcas in our imperiled oceans, the topics on Blue Dot are as varied as the host’s interests and connections -- which are pretty limitless! An internationally respected space history journalist, Dave is also deeply fascinated by all aspects of the grand workings of nature’s awesome machinery on scales ranging from galactic to subatomic. And topics take in all aspects of the arts and sciences.