to fund the development, launch and operational costs of the telescope, about the cost of a complex freeway interchange, or approximately $100M less than a single Air Force Next-Generation Bomber. The $450 million cost estimate is composed of $250 million to create Sentinel, plus another $200 million for 10 years of operations. In explaining the Foundation's bypassing of possible governmental grants for such a mission, Dr. Lu stated their public fundraising appeal is being driven by "[t]he tragedy of the commons: When it's everybody's problem, it's nobody's problem", referring to a lack of ownership, priority and funding that governments have assigned to asteroid threats, also stating on a different occasion "We're the only ones taking it seriously." According to another B612 board member, Rusty Schweickart, "The good news is, you can prevent it—not just get ready for it! The bad news is, it's hard to get anybody to pay attention to it when there are potholes in the road." After providing earlier Congressional testimony on the issue Schweickart was dismayed to hear from congressional staff members that, while U.S. lawmakers involved in the hearing understood the seriousness of the threat, they would likely not legislate funding for planetary defense as "making the deflection of asteroids a priority might backfire in [their] reelection campaigns". The Foundation intended to launch Sentinel in 2017–2018, with initiation of data transfer for on-Earth processing anticipated no later than 6 months afterwards. In the aftermath of the February 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor explosion—where an approximate asteroid entered the atmosphere undetected at about Mach 60, becoming a brilliant superbolide meteor before exploding over Chelyabinsk, Russia—the B612 foundation experienced a "surge of interest" in its project to detect asteroids, with a corresponding increase in funding donations. After providing Congressional testimony Dr. Lu noted that the many online videos recorded of the asteroid's explosion over Chelyabinsk made a significant impact on millions of viewers worldwide, saying "There's nothing like a hundred YouTube videos to do that." Staff Leadership In 2014 eight key staff positions were designated, covering the offices of the chief executive officer (CEO), chief operating officer (COO), Sentinel Program Architecture (SPA), Sentinel Mission Direction (SMD), Sentinel Program Management (SPM), Sentinel Mission Science (SMS) and the Sentinel Standing Review Team (SSRT), plus Public Relations. Ed Lu, Co-founder, B612 Foundation. Executive Director, Asteroid Institute Edward Tsang "Ed" Lu (; born July 1, 1963) is a co-founder and the chief executive