Smaller Earth-Threatening Asteroids



Asteroids have been showering the Earth with damages for long. So, NASA thought of searching for these Earth-threatening celestial bodies as small as 140 meters. It has been approved by the US Congress and is awaiting President George W Bush’s signature. Though the bill provides no money, the survey telescopes are already in development.



The asteroid search is part of a bill authorizing NASA operations for 2007 and 2008. Once the bill is signed, it will give NASA a year for devising a plan that would catalogue 90% of potentially Earth-threatening asteroids within 15 years. Congressional action in 1998 pushed NASA to begin its current hunt for dangerous asteroids above 1 kilometer in size.



Astronomers had catalogued 818 kilometer-class asteroids which pose a threat to the Earth. All these objects are thought to total about 1100. And the goal is to spot 90% of all such objects by 2008, which means that there are another 172 to go.



Via: New Scientist