[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 912 Referred in Senate (RFS)]
2d Session
H. R. 912
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 4, 2004
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To authorize the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration to establish an awards program in honor of Charles
``Pete'' Conrad, astronaut and space scientist, for recognizing the
discoveries made by amateur astronomers of asteroids with near-Earth
orbit trajectories.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Charles `Pete' Conrad Astronomy
Awards Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
For the purposes of this Act--
(1) the term ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration;
(2) the term ``amateur astronomer'' means an individual
whose employer does not provide any funding, payment, or
compensation to the individual for the observation of asteroids
and other celestial bodies, and does not include any individual
employed as a professional astronomer;
(3) the term ``Minor Planet Center'' means the Minor Planet
Center of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory;
(4) the term ``near-Earth asteroid'' means an asteroid with
a perihelion distance of less than 1.3 Astronomical Units from
the Sun; and
(5) the term ``Program'' means the Charles ``Pete'' Conrad
Astronomy Awards Program established under section 3.
SEC. 3. PETE CONRAD ASTRONOMY AWARD PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--The Administrator shall establish the Charles
``Pete'' Conrad Astronomy Awards Program.
(b) Awards.--The Administrator shall make awards under the Program
based on the recommendations of the Minor Planet Center.
(c) Award Categories.--The Administrator shall make one annual
award, unless there are no eligible discoveries or contributions, for
each of the following categories:
(1) The amateur astronomer or group of amateur astronomers
who in the preceding calendar year discovered the intrinsically
brightest near-Earth asteroid among the near-Earth asteroids
that were discovered during that year by amateur astronomers or
groups of amateur astronomers.
(2) The amateur astronomer or group of amateur astronomers
who made the greatest contribution to the Minor Planet Center's
mission of cataloguing near-Earth asteroids during the
preceding year.
(d) Award Amount.--An award under the Program shall be in the
amount of $3,000.
(e) Guidelines.--(1) No individual who is not a citizen or
permanent resident of the United States at the time of his discovery or
contribution may receive an award under this Act.
(2) The decisions of the Administrator in making awards under this
Act are final.
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--From sums otherwise
authorized to be appropriated, there are authorized to be appropriated
such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act.
Passed the House of Representatives March 3, 2004.
Attest:
JEFF TRANDAHL,
Clerk.