[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 136 (Friday, July 31, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E713]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2021

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                               speech of

                            HON. DARREN SOTO

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 30, 2020

  Mr. SOTO. Mr. Speaker, Soto Amendment, Soto number 77 to Division B, 
the Department of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act of 2021, specified that at least $40,000,000 from 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Planetary Science 
budget to be applied to the general budget and applied to the Near 
Earth Object Surveillance Mission (NEOSM).
  Space may be vast, but it's not empty. Earth is bombarded by tiny 
space rocks called meteors every day, most of which burn up in our 
atmosphere. Larger meteors, like the one that exploded over 
Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013, can damage buildings and cause minor 
injuries. And on rare occasions, asteroids and comets strike Earth and 
cause global devastation--the dinosaurs perished when this happened 66 
million years ago.
  NEOSM is a 50-centimeter-wide telescope. Its camera sees things in 
infrared wavelengths--a type of light not visible to human eyes. 
Infrared light reveals heat signatures, which is perfect for asteroids 
because they are very dark and hard to see against the blackness of 
space. In infrared light, they glow because they heat up in the Sun and 
re-radiate that heat back into space.
  This is the impetus behind NEOSM, NASA's Near-Earth Object 
Surveillance Mission. NEOSM would launch as soon as 2025 and within 10 
years meet Congress's goal of finding 90 percent of near-Earth objects 
140 meters and wider. Finding and studying these objects will not only 
help us figure out if any are on course to hit Earth, but will also 
help lay the groundwork for survey and deflection missions if one is 
found.
  I support ensuring funding for the Near Earth Surveillance Mission 
efforts to identify potentially hazard near Earth objects and thank my 
colleagues for their support of my amendment.

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