I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5303
To authorize the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Admin-
istration 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 trajec-
tories.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 26, 2002
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 pro-
gram 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Charles ‘Pete’ Conrad
Astronomy Awards Act’’.
SEC. 2. PETE CONRAD ASTRONOMY AWARD PROGRAM.
(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Administrator of
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (here-
after referred to as the ‘‘Administrator’’) is authorized to
establish the Charles ‘‘Pete’’ Conrad Astronomy Awards
Program. The Administrator is authorized to contract
with the Minor Planet Center of the Smithsonian Astro-
physical Observatory (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Minor
Planet Center’’) to administer the program.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program author-
ized by subsection (a) shall be to award outstanding ama-
teur astronomers who make asteroid discoveries and to
augment asteroid discovery efforts by the Government.
(c) AWARD CATEGORIES.—The award program au-
thorized under subsection (a) shall consist of 3 categories
of awards as follows:
(1) FIRST CATEGORY.—An award in the first
category shall be presented annually to the amateur
astronomer who, using amateur equipment only, dis-
covers the largest absolute magnitude new asteroid
having a near-Earth orbit during the preceding cal-
endar year.
(2) SECOND CATEGORY.—An award in the sec-
ond category shall be presented annually to an ama-
teur astronomer for pre-discovery and recovery ef-
forts, including—
(A) the discovery of asteroids by an ama-
teur as a result of information produced by pro-
fessional telescopes or as a result of the ama-
teur’s use of time on professional equipment;
and
(B) efforts to locate newly discovered as-
teroids using old images and already discovered
near-Earth orbit asteroids that have been
‘‘lost’’.
(3) THIRD CATEGORY.—An award in the third
category shall be presented annually to the amateur
astronomer, or professional not funded for optical
astronomy, who provides the greatest service to up-
date the minor planet catalogue. Eligible discoveries
may be made by visual, photographic, or electronic
means.
(d) GUIDELINES FOR AWARDING PRIZES.—General
guidelines for the awarding of prizes are as follows:
(1) Prizes shall be awarded to the person or
group with the greatest contributions as determined
by the Minor Planet Center for the second and third
categories.
(2) The award in the first category shall not be
presented for years in which there are no eligible as-
teroid discoveries.
(3) All awards are reserved for United States
citizens.
(4) The decisions of the Minor Planet Center in
administering the award program are final.
(e) ELIGIBILITY.—Individuals are eligible to apply
for the awards authorized under this section if the fol-
lowing conditions are satisfied:
(1) All applicants must demonstrate that they
are not funded to use professional telescopes or ob-
servations and are acting solely in an amateur ca-
pacity.
(2) Government and professional astronomers
associated with the near-Earth orbit asteroid
project, as well as members of their immediate fami-
lies, are not eligible for the awards.
(f) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator or the Minor
Planet Center may prescribe such regulations as may be
necessary to implement the program authorized by this
section.
(g) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated to $10,000 for each of
fiscal years 2003 and 2004 to carry out this Act.
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