NEAR EARTH OBJECTS What are NEOs? Where do they come from? Do they pose any real threat to Earth? Can they provide viable space resources? All of these questions are now under investigation by planetary scientist.         There are two highly recognized research programs that I will discuss with you. The Spaceguard program is sponsored and run by NASA Ames Space Science Division: Asteroid and Comet Impact Hazard. Also under the direction of Dr. Tom Gehrels …showed first 75 words of 653 total…

…showed last 75 words of 653 total…as sources of raw materials. Spacewatch uses a Charg-Coupled Device or (CCD) and an automated computer program to discover NEOs.         `The Spacewatch Observatory has already detected one of the smallest asteroids known, and also the one that passed very close to Earth, the Apollo asteroid 1991 BA. The semi-automatic Spacewatch system at the University of Arizona has considerably increased the discovery rate, and will have profound consequences on the utility of NEOs as near-Earth space resources.