Canadian satellite to detect Earth hits

OTTAWA, May 2 (UPI) -- Canadian researchers are working on a tiny satellite that will alert the world to the potential of asteroid strikes.

"This is the first space-based asteroid-searching telescope," said Alan Hildebrand of the University of Calgary (Alberta), one of two principal scientists for the satellite.

He told the Canwest News Service the Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite, set to be launched within two years is "the first space-based asteroid-searching telescope."

Once completed, the NEOSSat device will weigh only 135 pounds, and will be the size of a small suitcase, the report said.

"I think the most exciting thing about this mission is we are going to find asteroids that are accessible from our planet," Hildebrand said.

He said the mini-satellite would also help define celestial origins.

"We've been to the moon. There's always more you can do (there), but asteroids have so much more to teach us about the origins of the solar system," Hildebrand told the news agency.