Editing Rendezvous with Rama (section)

==Non-fictional aspects==

[[File:NEA by survey.png|thumb|right|300px|Number of [[near-Earth object|NEO]]s detected by various projects:
{| style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 8px;"
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{{legend2|#0000FF|border=1px solid #0000B3|[[Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research|LINEAR]]}}<br />
{{legend2|#FF9900|border=1px solid #B37400|[[Near Earth Asteroid Tracking|NEAT]]}}<br />
{{legend2|#FF0000|border=1px solid #800000|[[Spacewatch]]}}<br />
{{legend2|#FFFF00|border=1px solid #B3B300|[[LONEOS]]}}
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{{legend2|#009900|border=1px solid #003D00|[[Catalina Sky Survey|CSS]]}}<br />
{{legend2|#CC00CC|border=1px solid #390052|[[Pan-STARRS]]}}<br />
{{legend2|#00CCCC|border=1px solid #333|[[NEOWISE]]}}<br />
{{legend2|#993300|border=1px solid #333|other}}
|}]]
Clarke created the space study program which detects Rama, Project Spaceguard, as a method of identifying [[near-Earth objects]] on Earth-impact [[trajectories]]; in the novel it was initiated in 2077. A real project named [[Spaceguard]] was initiated in 1992, named after Clarke's fictional project and "with the permission and encouragement of Clarke".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Morrison|first1=David|author-link=David Morrison (astrophysicist)|title=Interstellar Visitor: The Strange Asteroid from a Faraway System|journal=Skeptical Inquirer|date=2018|volume=42|issue=2|pages=5–6}}</ref> After interest in the dangers of asteroid strikes was heightened by a series of Hollywood [[disaster film]]s, the United States Congress gave NASA authorisation and funding to support Spaceguard. By 2017, there were a number of different efforts to detect potentially dangerous asteroids.

On 19 October 2017 an incoming interstellar object was discovered by [[Pan-STARRS]], a system similar to Spaceguard. Like Rama, the object had an unusually elongated shape. Before the official [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] name [[ʻOumuamua]] was selected by the [[International Astronomical Union]], a popular choice was ''Rama''.<ref>{{cite web |author=John Wenz |date=22 November 2017 |title=The first discovered interstellar asteroid is a quarter-mile long red beast |url=http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/11/interstellar-asteroid-is-a-quarter-mile-long-red-beast |website=Astronomy}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |date=2 November 2017 |title=The first visitor from another solar system has just been spotted: Rendezvous with Rama? |url=https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21730863-rendezvous-rama-first-visitor-another-solar-system-has-just-been |magazine=The Economist |url-access=subscription}}</ref>