NASA is charged with seeking out nearly all the asteroids that threaten Earth but doesn’t have the money to do the job, a federal report says. That’s because even though Congress assigned the space agency this mission four years ago, it never gave NASA money to build the necessary telescopes, the new National Academy of Sciences report says. Specifically, NASA has been ordered to spot 90 percent of the potentially deadly rocks hurtling through space by 2020.
Even so, NASA says it’s completed about one-third of its assignment with its current telescope system. NASA estimates that there are about 20,000 asteroids and comets in our solar system that are potential threats to Earth. They are larger than 460 feet in diameter — slightly smaller than the Superdome in New Orleans. So far, scientists know where about 6,000 of these objects are.
On the plus side, you won’t have to worry about a government-appointed panel making end of life decisions for you. I’ve got to wonder though: if NASA published a bunch of white papers urging asteroid negotiation rather than asteroid destruction – then would Democrats fund them?
References:
* Report: NASA can’t keep up with killer asteroids [AP]
Previously:
* Super: Unknown, Previously Undetected Something Creates Earth-Sized Scar On Jupiter
* Neat – Germs Taken To Space So They Can Mutate, Come Back Deadlier
* Water On Mars!!!
