NASA's Hunt for Dangerous Asteroids Falls Short Irene Klotz - Reuters
go to original September 16, 2014

Amidst the buzz surrounding a dangerous encounter with an asteroid, here are 5 asteroids that have hit or come terrifying close to striking Earth. (on.aol.com)

NASA won't meet a congressionally ordered goal to find 90 percent of nearby and potentially dangerous asteroids larger than 460 feet (140 meters) in diameter, the agency’s Inspector General said on Monday.

The shortfall comes despite a 10-fold increase in NASA’s annual budget over the past five years – from $4 million in 2009 to $40 million in 2014 - to track and assess potentially dangerous asteroids and comets. So-called “Near-Earth Objects,” or NEOs, fly within about 28 million miles (45 million km) of Earth.

The agency’s efforts are poorly coordinated, ill-managed and under-staffed, according to a 32-page report titled “NASA’s Efforts to Identify Near-Earth Objects and Mitigate Hazards,” by NASA Inspector General Paul Martin.

“NASA estimates that it has identified only about 10 percent of all asteroids 140 meters and larger,” Martin wrote. “Given its current pace and resources, (NASA) has stated that it will not meet the goal of identifying 90 percent of such objects by 2020.”

A one-person office manages a “loosely structured conglomerate of research activities that are not well integrated and (which) lack overarching program oversight, objectives and established milestones to track progress,” the report said.

Read the rest at Reuters

Photo: Reuters/Andrey Tkachenko

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