B612 Annual Report - 2015

Annual Progress Report Volume One 2015

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Photograph by Ed Lu

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

– Margaret Mead

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Photograph by Ed Lu

Letter from the CEO B612 Foundation (B612) has grown in the last year, with thanks to our partners - the planetary defense community and you, our dedicated donors.

Nowhere was this more evident than at the first annual Asteroid Day on June 30, which we co-founded with several organizations.

Ed Lu CEO and Co-Founder

Asteroid Day is just one example of our expansive public awareness efforts. The event was co-hosted live from both San Francisco and London, featured more than 100 world-class science panelists, supported additional events in locations all across the globe, and generated thousands of mainstream news articles, reaching 4 billion people across the globe. In addition, the 100X Asteroid Declaration has been signed by more than 100 industry-leading signatories and by citizens worldwide from at least 108 countries.

Concerning our ongoing science and technology efforts, work on Sentinel continues to make noteworthy progress. We’ve confirmed that Sentinel can, in fact, help us achieve our organizational goal of protecting the Earth from dangerous asteroids. It will do an effective job at detecting numerous smaller (45 to 100 meters) asteroids that can strike our planet with the energy of a nuclear weapon. Â

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Letter from the CEO / Mission Statement

There has also been tremendous progress in the broader field of planetary defense. As we reported just a few weeks ago, NEOCam, NASA’s proposed infrared telescope, has been selected as one of five finalists in the NASA Discovery program for potential flight selection.

While it is far from certain that NEOCam will receive the go-ahead from NASA next year, we believe this is a positive step for the field of planetary defense (in addition to last year’s approval of National Science Foundation funding for LSST).

Our vision of making planetary defense a reality continues to motivate us. Thank you so much for your continued support and partnership. At B612, this last year has further convinced us that if a small group of committed people can change the world, a large group – working together – can save it.

To Our Future,

Ed Lu Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder B612 Foundation

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B612 History

Photograph by Ed Lu

B612 History The View from Above Seeing the world from a different perspective inspired astronauts Ed Lu and Rusty Schweickart to embark on a mission to protect the Earth from asteroids. Ed’s view was from aboard the International Space Station, more than 200 miles from Earth, and Rusty’s was from the Lunar Module on its first test flight in Earth orbit.

Observing our tiny blue planet in the giant cosmic shooting gallery of our solar system highlighted the potential danger of asteroid impacts.

Observing our crater-covered moon up close highlighted the results of those impacts.

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B612 History

Houston, Let’s Solve a Problem In October of 2001, Ed and Rusty met with Piet Hut, Clark Chapman, and 20 top scientists at Houston’s NASA Johnson Space Center. The goal was to seek ways to protect the Earth from asteroid impacts. The conclusion was that the technology required to predict and prevent

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A known threat that can potentially destroy millions of lives AND be predicted ahead of time, AND be prevented, cannot responsibly go unaddressed.

- Rusty Schweickart

asteroid impacts was feasible. And the result was the founding of B612 in 2002.

Education and Advocacy + Science and Technology In its first decade, B612 was a founding sponsor of the first Planetary Defense Conference (PDC) held in 2004, and sponsored each of the five annual international PDCs that followed. We advocated globally for increased asteroid detection capabilities, which led, in part, to the US Congress in 2005 calling for NASA to find and track asteroids larger than 140 meters.

The team itself addressed the complexities of asteroid deflection and developed several concepts, such as the Gravity Tractor, that are accepted today as standard techniques to prevent an impact.

B612 also tackled a different set of complexities: the international decision-making and policy processes required to implement an

Ed and Rusty testifying

effective asteroid deflection program. The team wrote the paper, “The Need for a United Nations Asteroid Deflection Treaty to Establish a System for Trustworthy Mission Design and Execution,” which helped establish the UN’s Association of Space Explorers’ (ASE) International

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B612 History

Panel on Asteroid Threat Mitigation, and led to the UN’s General Assembly approval of specific measures to prevent asteroid disasters.

On Earth Day in 2014, B612 released the 90-second long Asteroid Impact Video, showing viewers how frequently we get hit by sizeable asteroids. Using 13 years of newly released data from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Organization, the video shows that multi-kiloton TNT-equivalent asteroid impacts occur about twice a year. The video, used extensively by the press, has been translated into Chinese and Spanish, and has more than 2.5 million views worldwide.

The Eye in the Sky In early 2012, Ed Lu delivered a Tech Talk at Google, describing B612’s work in asteroid deflection research. He also mentioned the hold-up to successful deflection: the absence of detection. Although NASA had located the rare 1 kilometer asteroids, there were currently

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Sometimes you have to be a little crazy to make things happen.

- Dr. Ed Lu

no telescopes that could pinpoint the more numerous smaller asteroids that present a threat to Earth. After the talk, an employee asked Ed, “Why don’t you build the telescope?” When Ed politely pointed out that the $250+ million price tag was slightly outside his budget, the man offered a different perspective: private donations. “If supporters of a San Francisco museum can raise $450 million for a new wing,” he said, “the people of the world can raise enough to save the planet.”

That night, Ed called Rusty Schweickart to share the unprecedented idea, and on June 30, 2012 (the anniversary of the Tunguska asteroid impact), B612 announced the Sentinel Mission. Partnering with Ball

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B612 History

Aerospace, B612 began plans to build, launch, and operate an infrared space telescope to detect asteroids – the first private-sector deep space mission.

Spreading the Word and Engaging the World Most recently, on June 30, 2015, B612 combined its work in education, advocacy, science, and technology by co-founding the first annual international Asteroid Day. Featuring premier events at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and the Science Museum in London, Asteroid Day activities were hosted by volunteer organizations and individuals at over 100 sites in more than 33 countries around the world.

Although B612’s origination was the work of a few, its continued success is the work of many. We look forward to continuing to join with others across the planet to spread the word and engage the world in protecting the Earth from asteroids.

To learn more about our years of education, advocacy, science, and technology, visit the Archives on our website: www.b612foundation.org.

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Program Evolution

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2001 Workshop at NASA Johnson Space Center on asteroid deflection

2002 Formation of the B612 Foundation with the stated goal of “significantly altering the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner by 2015�

2004 Apophis debate 2004-2008

2005 Invention of the Gravity Tractor NASA successfully flies Deep Impact mission (kinetic impactor on comet but similar in many ways to a kinetic impactor for asteroid deflection) Congress gives NASA the goal of finding 90 percent of NEOs larger than 140 meters (George E Brown Act)

2008 B612 Foundation funds mission design study at JPL showing feasibility of Gravity Tractor mission

2012 Open letter to NASA on need for deflection mission planning and follow up meetings regarding potential impact of asteroid 2011 AG5

2013 Sentinel passes its first major technical review in 2013

2014 UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and General Assembly passes resolution creating International Asteroid Warning Network

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Spreading the Word and Engaging the World This past year, the entire B612 team was busy spreading the word and engaging the world in nearly every conceivable forum.

Here are some highlights:

Publications · Mission Director, Harold Reitsema and Mission Scientist Marc Buie published a landmark paper titled “Sentinel Mission Performance for Surveying the Near-Earth Object Population,” highlighting the conclusions of recent computer modeling that confirms that the Sentinel satellite can be twice as effective as current telescopes.

The paper is available on our website (www.b612foundation.org) as both a 2-page document and an infographic poster.

Presentations · Harold presented the findings of the Sentinel paper at the 4th International Academy of Astronautics Planetary Defense Conference (PDC) in Frascati, Italy, and at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. · Rusty Schweickart was a Keynote Speaker at the 13th Hypervelocity Impact Symposium (HVIS) in Boulder, Colorado, discussing asteroid impact and planetary defense technology.

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Spreading the Word and Engaging the World

Speaking Engagements · Ed Lu covered the gamut this year, from private salons in various cities, to corporate lecturing at companies such as Microsoft and NVIDIA, to special appearances at the Museum of Flight in Seattle and the Perot Museum in Dallas, to public talks at The Commonwealth Club and astronomy lectures in the San Francisco area. · An additional TED talk was delivered in Vancouver by B612’s former Vice President of Strategy, Valerie Conn. · The What’s Up? In Space! series featured Mission Scientist Marc Buie, Program Architect Scott Hubbard, Sentinel Program Manager John Troeltzsch, and Strategic Advisor and science writer David Brin.

In the Media We had a tremendous amount of press in the last year. We’ve highlighted just a few below. · Newsweek’s article, “We Can Save Ourselves From Earth-Killing Asteroids, but Someone Has to Pay,” featured Rusty Schweickart.

Newsweek Magazine’s excellent cover story focuses on the asteroid issue from many angles, including interviews with B612’s Ed Lu and Asteroid Day’s Science Advisor Rusty Schweickart. · Vice.com’s article, “The Sluggish Race to Guard the Earth Against Meteors,” featuring Ed Lu and discussing why Ed Lu and B612 have taken on the task of detecting and mapping near-Earth objects. · IEEE Spectrum’s article, “Sentinel’s Mission to Find 500,000 NearEarth Asteroids,” was written by B612 Mission Director Harold Reitsema and highlights how the Sentinel Mission could go a long way toward finding asteroids on collision courses before they pose a danger to Earth.

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Spreading the Word and Engaging the World

Special Events Asteroid science met pop culture at two significant events this year: · Scott Hubbard joined Bill Nye the Science Guy and the StarTalk Live! team at the Nourse Theater in San Francisco as part of the Sketchfest Comedy Festival. · The documentary film Disaster Playground follows experts in the monitoring and deflection of hazardous asteroids and real-life procedures in the event of an asteroid collision with Earth, and features Rusty Schweickart. The film premiered at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, where Rusty joined the director for a post-screening Q&A.

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Rusty’s interview for the film was in Caltech’s Natural History Department, and they kicked us out. We had to find a Plan B, but as an Apollo 9 astronaut, Rusty is used to changes. He came up with a new plan at the speed of light. ~ Director Nelly Ben Hayoun

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And our biggest event of the year:

Asteroid Day

· This first annual global event began with a joint international press conference, featuring the London team of Royal Astronomer Lord Martin Rees, astrophysicist and Queen guitarist Brian May, and 51 Degrees North director Grig Richters, and the San Francisco team of Ed Lu, Rusty Schweickart, and astronaut and B612 Strategic Advisor Tom Jones. · The premier events were held jointly in London and San Francisco on June 30th, the anniversary of the Tunguska asteroid in 1908, and featured a world-class gathering of scientists, astronauts, and other space enthusiasts. · In addition, 100+ self organized events were hosted by organizations and volunteers in over 33 countries around the world.

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路 Social media was abuzz about asteroids that day: #AsteroidDay trended on Twitter and Facebook for five days, including an Asteroid Day greeting tweet from astronaut Scott Kelly aboard the International Space Station. 路 TV host Jimmy Kimmel even chatted up Asteroid Day on his show. 路 To date, the 100X Asteroid Declaration, which calls for a rapid hundred-fold (100X) acceleration of the discovery and tracking of Near-Earth Asteroids to 100,000 per year within the next ten years, has been signed by general supporters from more than 100 countries around the world. 路 Asteroid Day activities had over 4 billion media impressions in print and broadcast news. This was made possible by over 30 astronauts participating in the global effort with thanks to the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) and Discovery Channel dedicating ten days of programming to Asteroid Day. 17

Spreading the Word and Engaging the World

Sentinel Update This year, our Sentinel technical team discovered new optimizations of Sentinel’s capabilities, and we continue to believe that Sentinel is the best technical solution to the asteroid discovery problem.

We completed the first stage of the Sentinel Mission: a series of technical studies and prototype hardware demonstrations called the Concept Phase. This included assembling a world-class technical and management

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team, creating a

The deployment of Sentinel is a welljudged and prudent ‘insurance policy,’ helping to safeguard life’s future on Earth. More than that, the concept of a philanthropically sponsored project is a model for future space ventures. ~ Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, B612 Strategic Advisor

comprehensive plan, building key partnerships with NASA and Ball Aerospace, and successfully passing the first major technical review – all of which was accomplished with privately raised funds.

Another key element was the formation of the Sentinel Operations and Data Analysis (SODA) working group.

The group has already

constructed a software model to guide observatory operations. This modeling along with independently contracted research by Ball Aerospace demonstrate that Sentinel’s capabilities greatly surpass

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Spreading the Word and Engaging the World

the George E. Brown, Jr. Congressional mandate to detect asteroids down to 140 meters in diameter. The modeling indicates that Sentinel will successfully locate asteroids as small as 45 meters, the size of the Tunguska asteroid in 1908 – the holy grail of planetary defense. Read more about Sentinel’s progress on our website (http://sentinelmission. org).

2015 saw tremendous advances in B612’s education, advocacy, science, and technology efforts. We look forward to partnering with you again in 2016 as we continue to spread the word and engage the world in planetary defense.

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Legacy should be more than what we do for our families. The Sentinel mission is an opportunity to address a knowable and tangible threat to our civilization. Technology for technology’s sake is interesting. A mission to save the planet is riveting. ~ Suzanna Mak, B612 Donor

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Sentinel is a rare opportunity to directly support a scientific endeavor whose potential to alter the course of history for the better is absolutely clear. ~ David Whitney, B612 Donor

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Assisting the greatest scientific minds on the planet to save our planet is the most worthy venture I can imagine during my lifetime. ~ Y. Chapman, B612 Donor

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Founding Circle

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*Anonymous+++++

Sasha Galitsky

Bill Anders

Eliot Gillum

Geoffrey Baehr

Dane Glasgow

William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation

Steve and Julie Grimm

Brian Burton and James Mercer

Garrett Gruener and Amy Slater

Don and Alison Carlson

VK Hsu & Sons Foundation Ltd.

Vinton and Sigrid Cerf

James D. and Justin Jameson

Esther Dyson

Margaret Jonsson Family Foundation

Alan Eustace

*Steve Jurvetson

Glaser Progress Foundation

Dominik Kaiser

Steve Krausz

The Peggy Rawls Family Fund

James Leszczenski

Ray Rothrock

David Liddle and Ruthann Quindlen

Edwin Sahakian

Suzanna Mak and Asa Denton

Rusty Schweickart and Nancy Ramsey

Greg McAdoo

Tim Trueman

Scott McGregor and Laurie Girand

Robert C. and Fallon B. Vaughn

Matt Mullenweg

Ben Wheeler

Diane Murphy

Yishan Wong and Kimberly

Peter Norvig Shervin Pishevar

Algeri-Wong *Signifies Leadership Gift of $1MM - $5MM

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Donor Honor Roll ALL GIFTS $500 - $24,999

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We have donors from 43 countries

21st Century Frontiers

Dmitry Chichkov

Joseph L. Fischer

Michael A’Hearn

John Conery

David Flowers

Rick Armstrong

Jonathan Coon

Fontana Foundation

Atlantis Research Foundation

David and Nathalie Cowan

Philip Fung

Marc Banetrivet

Alexander Curtis

V. Jacob Garbin

Robert Barrack

Carl Curtis

Ron and Nancy Garret

Gary Berner

Jonathan Dagle

Patrick D. Garvey

Bob Berry

Benjamin Davenport

Thomas Gavin

Will and Margaret Betchart

Davidow Family Foundation

Joseph Geddes

Bob Bishop

Barry and Barbara DeBoer

Michael S. Gendler and Jessica A. Teich

Dillon and Alex Bly

Wayne Dejong and Elizabeth Erdos

Stuart and Marilyn Gillard

Jim Bodenstedt

John Dickinson

Arthur Gleckler and Kristine Kelly

Richard Bowen

Alan Doak

Brent Goldman

Rick Bradford

DOLA LLC

Simon Grant

Broadcom Corporation

Heinz Dueffer

Daniel Greve

Alexandre Busset

John Dunning

Rex Groves

John Carter

Erik Edwards

Michael Grund

Paul Carter

Albert Ender

Matt Guerreiro and Christina Mohr

John Casani

Essence Printing, Inc.

Cedric Gysel

Daniel Ceperley

Richard C. Evans

Andrew Harmsworth

Y. and Clark Chapman

Ryan Falor

Derek and Susan Hine

Jim Chervenak

Kevin Fayle

Holland & Hart, LLP

Chervenak-Nunnalle Foundation

Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund

Craig Hrynchuk

Visoth Chhiap and Maribeth Lewis

Scott Fields

Jacob Hubert

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Donor Honor Roll

Keith Hughes

Chris Miller

Joseph A. Shepard

Jeremy Hylton

William Moates

The Shira Charitable Fund

Tomasz Jackiewicz

Kieran Morrill

Skate One Corporation

Arnold Jacob

Markus Michael Mueller

Kevin Stafford

Robert Jedicke

Jonathan Nagin

RIck Stawicki

Paul Jeffries

Richard and Susanna Nash

Reginald Stolley

Frederick Johnson

Dave Newbower

Daniel and Karen Swanson

Tim Johnson

Jon and Sigrin Newell

Benyang Tang

Paul Jones

Bill Nye

Robert Taylor

Brad Jordan

William Ogletree

William and Heather Terrell

Jawed Karim

Joe Orr

Donna and Thor Thorson

Kenneth Keller

Sherman Page and Sandhya Devi

Dennis Tito

Joel and Joy Kellman

Dave Parsons

Jan Magne Tjensvold

Orr Kelly

Vincent Pawlowski

Sigrin and Jim Torson

Daniel Kingsbury

Christopher Payne

John Troeltzsch

Vladas Lasas

Jim Perry

Newell Troup

Daniela Lazarjan

Polk Bros. Foundation

Varian Family Fund

Antonio Leding

Rajan Ponnappan

Alexandra Vedernikova

Yee Lee

Alexander Price

Tristan Vincent-Philpot

Michelle Levell

Christian Principi

James and Cynthia Walker

Price Lewis

The Purdy Family

David Wall

Roger Linfield

Sunny Quach

Rogers Weed

Michael Liou

Simon and Diana Raab

Charles Wen

Rick Lu

Mike Rangel

Magnus Wentzel

Jared Luxenberg

Martha Reynolds

Al Werner

Emmett and Carol MacCorkle

Richardson Family Charitable Fund

Roderick White

Jyothi Madhavapeddy and Prasad

Michael Ritter

Robert Whites

Chakka

Donald Robertson

Axel Whitney

Scott Manley

Kara and Matt Roche

Brian Williams

Benjamin Marcus

Carl Rosendahl

Jon Winston

Joel Marks

Michael Ruhl

Joshua and Kelly Wiseman

Jeff Marshall

Robert Ryker

Wohler Technologies

Septimiu Marzac

Bob Salk

Adam and Kati Wright

John McAuley

Eric Saxby

Will Wright and Anya Zavarzina-Wright

Susan and David McCoy

Joseph Schmidt

Matt Wyndowe

Michael Meek

Scott and Nola Schneider

Doselle Young

John Kenneth Menges Jr.

Rolf Schreiber

Philip Young

Meteor Crater Enterprises, Inc.

Randolph Schweickart

Corwin Yu

Microsoft

Karen Seiter Carteris

Jerry and Janet Zucker 23

Mission Statement The goal of B612 is to protect Earth from asteroid impacts. We do this through: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Preparing studies and analyses necessary to identify, select and deploy technologies and techniques most likely to succeed in detecting and deflecting asteroids on course to impact Earth.

ADVOCACY & EDUCATION Delivering to the public information and education advocacy programs through media, public lectures, and other means to reach and inform the general public, the scientific community, and world governments about planetary defense and the best technological solutions against asteroid impacts.

GOVERNING BOARD Dr. David Liddle, Chair Geoffrey Baehr Dr. Clark Chapman Dr. Dan Durda Dr. Ed Lu, CEO and Co-Founder Rusty Schweickart Chair Emeritus TECHNICAL TEAM

OPERATIONS TEAM

Dr. Ed Lu, Chief Executive Officer

Danica Remy, Chief Operations Officer

Dr. Marc Buie, Mission Scientist

Hillary Aiken, Chief Relationship Officer

John Casani, Chair, Sentinel Standing Review Team

Daniel de Zeeuw, Data and Business Systems Manager

Dr. G. Scott Hubbard, Program Architect

Lorenzo Ersland, Director of Finance

United States

Dr. Harold Reitsema, Mission Director

Diane Murphy, VP Public Relations

Phone 650-644-4539

John Troeltzsch, Sentinel Program Manager 24

Heather Pardue, Executive Coordinator

HEADQUARTERED IN SILICON VALLEY Reach us by mail: 20 Sunnyside Ave, Suite 427 Mill Valley, CA 94941

Fax 650-618-1493 www.b612foundation.org