The U.S. House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology recently met to review the current state of NASA's planetary defense efforts. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
On Thursday (May 15), the House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology met with scientists to discuss a hot-button topic: What should NASA do if it detects a threatening asteroid headed for a collision with Earth? It’s an especially important question given the recent hype surrounding asteroid 2024 YR4, which had a high chance of hitting our planet until scientists pinpointed its location and declared it safe.
Much of the focus Thursday was on the agency’s long-awaited Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission, which is set to significantly improve its overall ability to detect dangerous asteroids. But there was also plenty of discussion about a major issue: the Trump administration’s recently announced plan to cut NASA’s top funding by 24% in the next fiscal year. The agency’s planned cuts to science programs, including its planetary defense efforts, are as much as 47%.
Called the White House's “modest budget proposal,” the cut would be “the largest single-year NASA budget cut in U.S. history.”
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