I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4917 

To formulate situation and decision analyses, and to select procedures and 

systems, for deflecting and mitigating potentially hazardous near-Earth 

objects. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2007 

Mr. ROHRABACHER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science and Technology 

A BILL 

To formulate situation and decision analyses, and to select 

procedures and systems, for deflecting and mitigating 

potentially hazardous near-Earth objects. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NEO Preparedness 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Asteroid and comet collisions rank as one of 

9 the most costly natural disasters that can occur. 


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1 (2) According to the October 2007 report to 

2 Congress by the National Aeronautics and Space 

3 Administration (in this Act referred to as ‘‘NASA’’), 

4 140-meter-in-diameter asteroid collision will generate 

5 the equivalent power of a 100 megaton TNT explo6 sion. 

7 (3) There are approximately 100,000 near8 Earth objects 140 meters wide or larger. 

9 (4) The time needed to eliminate or mitigate 

10 the threat of a collision of a potentially hazardous 

11 near-Earth object with Earth is measured in dec12 ades. 

13 (5) Unlike earthquakes and hurricanes, aster14 oids and comets can provide adequate collision infor15 mation, enabling the United States to include both 

16 asteroid- and comet-collision disaster recovery and 

17 disaster avoidance in its public-safety structure. 

18 (6) Basic information is needed for technical 

19 and policy decisionmaking for the United States to 

20 create a comprehensive program in order to be ready 

21 to eliminate and mitigate the serious and credible 

22 threats to humankind posed by potentially hazardous 

23 near-Earth asteroids and comets. 

24 (7) As a first step to eliminate and to mitigate 

25 the risk of such collisions, situation and decisionVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:59 Dec 27, 2007 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4917.IH H4917

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1 analysis processes, as well as procedures and system 

2 resources, must be in place well before a collision 

3 threat becomes known. 

4 (8) Without establishing such processes, proce5 dures, and resources, the full range of options to 

6 eliminate and to mitigate the risk of such collisions 

7 is restricted or even lost. 

8 (9) The public safety of the United States and 

9 the planet requires the competence and expertise 

10 found in NASA to prepare and to validate the poten11 tially hazardous near-Earth object deflection situa12 tion and decisionmaking analysis, as well as to select 

13 systems and procedures, to prepare the United 

14 States for readiness to avoid or to mitigate collisions 

15 with potentially hazardous near-Earth objects. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 As used in this Act— 

18 (1) ‘‘potentially hazardous near-Earth object’’ 

19 means an asteroid or comet with a trajectory that 

20 passes less than 0.05 Astronomical Units from 

21 Earth’s orbit; 

22 (2) ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Administrator 

23 of NASA; 

24 (3) ‘‘adequate-warning’’ refers to a time period 

25 starting from the time that the near-Earth object is 


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1 considered potentially haradous to the predicted time 

2 of possible collision, which allows the full range of 

3 readiness options to be implemented; 

4 (4) ‘‘short-warning’’ refers to a time period that 

5 allows only limited options to be implemented; and 

6 (5) ‘‘comet’’ means near-Earth or short-warn7 ing comets. 

8 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE OF POTENTIALLY 

9 HARADOUS NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS, IDENTI10 FICATION OF SITUATION- AND DECISION11 ANALYSIS FACTORS, AND SELECTION OF 

12 PROCEDURES AND SYSTEMS. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator shall es14 tablish the Office of Potentially Hazardous Near-Earth 

15 Object Preparedness (in this Act referred to as ‘‘Office’’). 

16 The purpose of the Office shall be to prepare the United 

17 States for readiness to avoid and to mitigate collisions 

18 with potentially hazardous near-Earth objects in collabo19 ration with other Agencies through the identification of 

20 situation- and decision-analysis factors and selection of 

21 procedures and systems. 

22 (b) IDENTIFICATION OF SITUATION- AND DECISION23 ANALYSIS FACTORS.—The Office shall identify situation24 and decision-analysis factors, in collaboration with other 

25 Agencies, by determining— 


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1 (1) the needed objective technical and nontech2 nical criteria upon which to analyze potentially haz3 ardous near-Earth object collision information and 

4 to base key threat elimination-decisions and options; 

5 (2) the implications of such decisions and op6 tions; 

7 (3) the human skills needed to make key threat 

8 elimination-decisions and the preparation required 

9 for individuals making such decisions; 

10 (4) the factors needed to formulate key techical 

11 and policy questions involving such decisions; 

12 (5) methods for determining and sequencing the 

13 minimum possible time periods needed to make such 

14 decisions; 

15 (6) a model deflection and mitigation decision 

16 logic flow, including provisions for minimizing— 

17 (A) human exposure, 

18 (B) energy, cost, and time, and 

19 (C) the risk of return of potentially haz20 ardous near-Earth objects; and 

21 (7) additional critical information needs, tech22 nological developments, public confidence building 

23 initiatives, and any other needs involving the threat 

24 of collisons of potentially hazardous near-Earth ob25 jects with Earth. 


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1 (c) SELECTION OF PROCEDURES AND SYSTEMS.— 

2 The Office shall select procedures and systems by— 

3 (1) surveying the existing deflection proposals 

4 and examining each proposal for critical elements in5 cluding capability, suitability, feasibility, cost, cost 

6 effectiveness, required human and capital resources, 

7 and maturity of needed key technologies; 

8 (2) with the results from subsection (a) and 

9 input from other appropriate sources, performing an 

10 architectural tradeoff assessment and selecting a set 

11 of deflection proposals as primary procedures and 

12 systems that will provide the best opportunities for 

13 deflection-preparation, taking into account adequate14 and short-warning collision timelines, as well as rel15 evant asteroid and comet characteristics; 

16 (3) for each selected primary procedure and 

17 system— 

18 (A) identifying the best backup; 

19 (B) defining the steps needed to realize im20 mature key technologies; 

21 (C) developing preliminary models; 

22 (D) performing a predicted results error23 analysis in order to confirm the characteristics 

24 described in subsection (a); 

25 (E) projecting time to readiness; 


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1 (F) formulating an implementation phase 

2 to achieve full deflection readiness; 

3 (G) establishing implementation timelines 

4 with measurable interim goals, and steps to 

5 transfer the procedure and system resources to 

6 the implementation phase; and 

7 (H) identifying the crucial policy decisions 

8 needed for implemention; and 

9 (4) indicating possible coordination with other 

10 Agencies to facilitate such activities. 

11 SEC. 5. REPORTS. 

12 The Administrator shall submit to the Congress the 

13 following reports: 

14 (1) Not later than 1 year after the date of en15 actment of this Act, an interim report that summa16 rizes a preliminary result of the activities of the Of17 fice carried out under sections 4(b) and 4(c)(1)–(2). 

18 (2) Not later than 2 years after the date of en19 actment of this Act, a concluding report that sum20 marizes all activities of the Office carried out under 

21 section 4. 

22 SEC. 6. NASA ADVISORY COUNSEL. 

23 The Administrator shall convene the NASA Advisory 

24 Council— 


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1 (1) not later than 90 days after submitting the 

2 interim report required by section 5(1), to provide 

3 the Administrator with advice for the concluding re4 port; and 

5 (2) not later than 90 days after submitting con6 cluding report required by section 5(2), to provide 

7 the Administrator with advice for subsequent activi8 ties under section 4. 

Æ 


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