Project Spaceguard

Dated: pre-2000

(As outlined by Arthur C. Clarke in 'Hammer of God' and 'Rendezvous with Rama')

Objective: To serve as an early-warning system against earth-threatening meteors and other objects

Project specifications:

• Find all celestial objects in the vicinity of the Solar System
• Track all such objects
• Predict the orbits of all known objects
• Tag as 'dangerous' any object coming within a certain 'safe' distance of the earth.
• Tag unusual objects for further study (after we define 'unusual')

I believe this project, or a variation, is already being implemented. See the following links for more information:

• Spacewatch
• Spaceguard Survey