It looks like NASA is getting serious about finding hazardous asteroids

Enlarge / NASA's chief of science has made asteroid detection a priority at the space agency. (credit: NASA)

On Monday, NASA's science chief committed to funding a space-based telescope to find the vast majority of near-Earth asteroids that may one day threaten Earth.

During an advisory committee meeting at NASA's headquarters in Washington, DC, the agency's associate administrator for science, Thomas Zurbuchen, said the agency was moving forward with the NEO Surveillance Mission, which would be ready to launch no earlier than 2025, at cost of less than $600 million.

"This is a priority for us," Zurbuchen said. He has been negotiating with the White House and Congress to obtain funding for the mission, which will be paid for out of the agency's planetary defense budget. NASA currently spends about $150 million a year to track and characterize hazardous objects, but that amount will need to increase in future years. The new surveillance mission's launch date will depend on funding allocated for the project.

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