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Asteroid watchers were dismayed by British government plans announced last
week to tackle the threat of asteroid impacts. The plans fall far short of last
year’s recommendations by the Near Earth Object task force, which called for a
new 3-metre telescope to monitor asteroids, an NEO research centre and for
asteroid detectors to be added to a space telescope set for launch by 2012
(see p 40).
The government’s response, a series of feasibility studies into some of
the proposals, is “very disappointing”, says Jonathan Tate of Spaceguard UK. “A
golden opportunity for the UK to take a world…