Editing Asteroid impact avoidance (section)

==== Sentinel mission ====
{{Main|B612 Foundation|Sentinel Space Telescope}}

The [[B612 Foundation]] is a private nonprofit [[Private foundation (United States)|foundation]] with headquarters in the United States, dedicated to protecting the Earth from [[Impact event|asteroid strikes]]. It is led mainly by scientists, former astronauts and engineers from the [[Institute for Advanced Study]], [[Southwest Research Institute]], [[Stanford University]], [[NASA]] and the [[space industry]].

As a non-governmental organization it has conducted two lines of related research to help detect NEOs that could one day strike the Earth, and find the technological means to divert their path to avoid such collisions. The foundation's goal had been to design and build a privately financed asteroid-finding [[Space observatory|space telescope]], [[Sentinel (space telescope)|Sentinel]], which was to be launched in 2017–2018. However the project was cancelled in 2015. Had the Sentinel's infrared telescope been parked in an orbit similar to that of [[Venus]], it would have helped identify threatening NEOs by cataloging 90% of those with diameters larger than {{convert|140|m|sp=us}}, as well as surveying smaller Solar System objects.<ref name="Discover-2013.09">Powell, Corey S. [http://discovermagazine.com/2013/september/17-hunting-season-for-asteroids "Developing Early Warning Systems for Killer Asteroids"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028014849/http://discovermagazine.com/2013/september/17-hunting-season-for-asteroids |date=October 28, 2016 }}, ''[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]'', August 14, 2013, pp. 60–61 (subscription required).</ref><ref name="B612-Sentinel Mission" /><ref name="New York Times-2013.02.16" />

Data gathered by Sentinel would have helped identify [[asteroid]]s and other NEOs that pose a risk of collision with Earth, by being forwarded to scientific data-sharing networks, including [[NASA]] and academic institutions such as the Minor Planet Center.<ref name="B612-Sentinel Mission">{{cite web|title=The Sentinel Mission |publisher=B612 Foundation |url=http://b612foundation.org/media/sentinelmission/ |access-date=September 19, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120910234035/http://b612foundation.org/media/sentinelmission/ |archive-date=September 10, 2012 }}</ref><ref name="New York Times-2013.02.16">Broad, William J. [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/science/space/dismissed-as-doomsayers-advocates-for-meteor-detection-feel-vindicated.html Vindication for Entrepreneurs Watching Sky: Yes, It Can Fall] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104050747/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/science/space/dismissed-as-doomsayers-advocates-for-meteor-detection-feel-vindicated.html |date=November 4, 2014 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'' website, February 16, 2013 and in print on February 17, 2013, p. A1 of the New York edition. Retrieved June 27, 2014.</ref><ref name="Space.com-2012.07.10">{{cite web| first=Mike | last=Wall| title=Private Space Telescope Project Could Boost Asteroid Mining| work=[[Space.com]]| date=July 10, 2012 | access-date=September 14, 2012| url=http://www.space.com/16501-private-space-telescope-asteroid-mining.html}}</ref> The foundation also proposes asteroid deflection of potentially dangerous NEOs by the use of [[gravity tractor]]s to divert their trajectories away from Earth,<ref name="Discover-2013.10">Powell, Corey S. [http://discovermagazine.com/2013/oct/16-how-to-dodge-a-cosmic-bullet How to Deflect a Killer Asteroid: Researchers Come Up With Contingency Plans That Could Help Our Planet Dodge A Cosmic Bullet] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828054622/http://discovermagazine.com/2013/oct/16-how-to-dodge-a-cosmic-bullet |date=August 28, 2016 }},  ''[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]'' website, September 18, 2013  (subscription required), and in print as "How to Dodge a Cosmic Bullet", October 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2014.</ref><ref name="B612-2002">{{cite web|title=PROJECT B612: Deflecting an Asteroid using Nuclear-Powered Plasma Drive Propulsion (home page) |publisher=Project B612 (now B612 Foundation) |date=November 26, 2002 |url=http://b612.boulder.swri.edu/ |access-date=April 15, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712085255/http://b612.boulder.swri.edu/ |archive-date=July 12, 2011 }}</ref> a concept co-invented by the organization's CEO, physicist and former NASA astronaut [[Ed Lu]].<ref name="Nature-Vol. 438 No. 7065-Lu, Love">{{cite journal | last1 = Lu | first1 = Edward T. | last2 = Love | first2 = Stanley G. | year = 2005 | title = Gravitational Tractor For Towing Asteroids | journal = Nature | volume = 438 | issue = 7065| pages = 177–178 | doi = 10.1038/438177a | pmid = 16281025 | arxiv = astro-ph/0509595 |bibcode = 2005Natur.438..177L | s2cid = 4414357 }}</ref>