From Encyclopedia Superheroica -the Encyclopedia of Superheroes

It is not just invasion by alien armada that threatens the Earth. We also face microbial menaces and even "extinction level events" as the result of interaction with completely inanimate objects.

Contents 1 Astronomical Allies 1.1 NASA 1.2 SETI 1.3 The Environmental Protection Agency 1.3.1 Employees 1.3.2 Challenges 1.4 Back to 1.5 References

Astronomical Allies

With such names as "Argus", "Sentry", "Sentinel", "Spaceguard", and "Project Blue Book", there have been countless efforts to protect the citizens of Earth from death from above.

NASA

In 1998 NASA commenced its part of the "Spaceguard" effort, with the goal of discovering and tracking over 90% of the near-Earth objects larger than one kilometer by the end of 2008. An Earth impact by one of these relatively large objects would be expected to have global consequences and, over time scales of a few million years, they present the greatest impact hazard to Earth. Approximately 60% of the estimated 1,000 to 1,200 large near-Earth objects have already been discovered, about 45% since NASA efforts started, and each of the five NASA-supported search facilities continue to improve their performance, so there has been good progress toward eliminating the risk of any large, undetected impactor.

The Asteroid Impact Scale

SETI

The Mission of the SETI Institute is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.

The Official SETI Site

The Environmental Protection Agency

EPA leads the nation's environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts. The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment. Since 1970, EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people.

The Official EPA Site

Employees

• 17,000 people across the country.
• A headquarters, ten regional offices, and more than a dozen labs.
• Primarily engineers, scientists, and policy analysts.
• Also comprised of legal, public affairs, financial, information management, and computer specialists.

Challenges

• Toxic waste
• Water pollution
• Air pollution
• Climate change

Back to

• OTHER MOTIVATIONS subsection

References

More about biological agents at Wikipedia