Who Keeps Track of the Comets?

Brian Marsden, apparently.

In <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000C14F2-565A-1F03-BA6A80A84… article on Scientific American</a>, he talks about running the Minor Planet Center, which tracks comets, meteors and other near-Earth objects. I'm sure that the job is mainly trigonometry and physics, but it fascinates me that it even exists.
And, what a great bunch of ideas for science-fiction it stirs up. Of course, there's the ever present idea of a meteor hitting Earth, but that's been done to death. Or, that the folks who work here make first contact with extra-terrestrials. But, I imagined something more like a galactic air-traffic controller. I mean, if one has lots of space travel, it could become necessary, right? And, think about all the things they'd have to keep track of in <i>three dimensions</i>! Certainly there must be enough tension and action in such a setting to find a story.
Well, something to ponder, anyway.