I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 912

To authorize the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to establish an awards program in honor of Charles ‘‘Pete’’ 

Conrad, astronaut and space scientist, for recognizing the discoveries 

made by amateur astronomers of asteroids with near-Earth orbit trajectories. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2003

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

Committee on Science 

A BILL

To authorize the Administrator of the National Aeronautics 

and Space Administration to establish an awards program in honor of Charles ‘‘Pete’’ Conrad, astronaut and 

space scientist, for recognizing the discoveries made by 

amateur astronomers of asteroids with near-Earth orbit 

trajectories.

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 ‘‘Charles ‘Pete’ Conrad 

5 Astronomy Awards Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. PETE CONRAD ASTRONOMY AWARD PROGRAM. 

2 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Administrator of 

3 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (here4 after referred to as the ‘‘Administrator’’) is authorized to 

5 establish the Charles ‘‘Pete’’ Conrad Astronomy Awards 

6 Program. The Administrator is authorized to contract 

7 with the Minor Planet Center of the Smithsonian Astro8 physical Observatory (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Minor 

9 Planet Center’’) to administer the program. 

10 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program author11 ized by subsection (a) shall be to award outstanding ama12 teur astronomers who make asteroid discoveries and to 

13 augment asteroid discovery efforts by the Government. 

14 (c) AWARD CATEGORIES.—The award program au15 thorized under subsection (a) shall consist of 3 categories 

16 of awards as follows: 

17 (1) FIRST CATEGORY.—An award in the first 

18 category shall be presented annually to the amateur 

19 astronomer who, using amateur equipment only, dis20 covers the largest absolute magnitude new asteroid 

21 having a near-Earth orbit during the preceding cal22 endar year. 

23 (2) SECOND CATEGORY.—An award in the sec24 ond category shall be presented annually to an ama25 teur astronomer for pre-discovery and recovery ef26 forts, including—
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1 (A) the discovery of asteroids by an ama2 teur as a result of information produced by pro3 fessional telescopes or as a result of the ama4 teur’s use of time on professional equipment; 

5 and 

6 (B) efforts to locate newly discovered as7 teroids using old images and already discovered 

8 near-Earth orbit asteroids that have been 

9 ‘‘lost’’. 

10 (3) THIRD CATEGORY.—An award in the third 

11 category shall be presented annually to the amateur 

12 astronomer, or professional not funded for optical 

13 astronomy, who provides the greatest service to up14 date the minor planet catalogue. Eligible discoveries 

15 may be made by visual, photographic, or electronic 

16 means. 

17 (d) GUIDELINES FOR AWARDING PRIZES.—General 

18 guidelines for the awarding of prizes are as follows: 

19 (1) Prizes shall be awarded to the person or 

20 group with the greatest contributions as determined 

21 by the Minor Planet Center for the second and third 

22 categories. 

23 (2) The award in the first category shall not be 

24 presented for years in which there are no eligible as25 teroid discoveries. 
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1 (3) All awards are reserved for United States 

2 citizens. 

3 (4) The decisions of the Minor Planet Center in 

4 administering the award program are final. 

5 (e) ELIGIBILITY.—Individuals are eligible to apply 

6 for the awards authorized under this section if the fol7 lowing conditions are satisfied: 

8 (1) All applicants must demonstrate that they 

9 are not funded to use professional telescopes or ob10 servations and are acting solely in an amateur ca11 pacity. 

12 (2) Government and professional astronomers 

13 associated with the near-Earth orbit asteroid 

14 project, as well as members of their immediate fami15 lies, are not eligible for the awards. 

16 (f) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator or the Minor 

17 Planet Center may prescribe such regulations as may be 

18 necessary to implement the program authorized by this 

19 section. 

20 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 are authorized to be appropriated to $10,000 for each of 

22 fiscal years 2004 and 2005 to carry out this Act.

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