Shocking! NASA to Slow Hunt for Asteroids That Could Kill Millions in 'Baffling' US Move?
Thousands of asteroids as big as the Washington Monument zip around our solar system at 40,000 miles per hour, hunks of metal or rock that could strike with 10 times the force of the most powerful nuclear weapon and kill millions of people.
Congress wants NASA to find them. The Biden administration says it can wait.
The space agency estimates there are about 25,000 asteroids of at least 140 meters in diameter near Earth's orbit. While the odds of them crashing into our planet at any given time are minuscule, Congress directed NASA to find 90% of them by 2020. Scientists have found fewer than half.
But for reasons it has not publicly explained, the administration has proposed delaying by two years, until 2028, the launch of an infrared space telescope meant to find those threatening asteroids and sharply cutting its budget for next year. One space policy advocate called the move “baffling.”
Lawmakers have pushed back, inserting measures into key bills and calling for a faster timeline for the telescope's funding and launch. The fight could flare up as the federal government's Sept. 30 shutdown deadline approaches.
It also comes as NASA focuses on higher-profile missions. Artemis 1, an uncrewed Moon-orbiting mission, is slated to launch Saturday, while a separate mission to collect rock and dust samples from Mars is looming.
On Sept. 26, NASA also plans to direct a spacecraft the size of a small car to slam into an asteroid at 14,760 mph in a bid to shift its trajectory. That asteroid isn't a threat to Earth, but the mission is the first time NASA has practiced bumping one to change its course.
Asteroid-ramming techniques won't matter if scientists can't find the potential threats, advocates say.
“You can't mitigate anything
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