SAN FRANCISCO – The inaugural Schweickart Prize was awarded June 28 to an astronomer proposing an international campaign to detect objects approachi

Prize winner wants to detect asteroids coming from sun’s direction

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2024-06-30 14:30:03

SAN FRANCISCO – The inaugural Schweickart Prize was awarded June 28 to an astronomer proposing an international campaign to detect objects approaching Earth from the direction of the sun.

Joseph DeMartini, a University of Maryland astronomy Ph.D. student, won a $10,000 grant from B612 Foundation’s prize named for Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart. The prize, to be awarded annually, recognizes graduate students with innovative ideas for planetary defense.

“We are now technically able to slightly modify the natural clockwork of the solar system to enhance the survival of Earth life,” Schweickart said in a news briefing. “This is the challenge to be met by Joe DeMartini and many other bright young people who will follow in his footsteps.”

In addition to funding, DeMartini said the prize gives him access to a network of people and organizations that could help carry out his proposal to focus ground-based telescopes toward the sun for roughly an hour before sunrise and after sunset.