NASA: 15.000 „City-Killer“-Asteroiden in Erdnähe unbemerkt

This raises a serious question about our long-term planetary defense readiness. If 15,000 asteroids large enough to devastate a city are currently untracked, what does that mean for humanity’s ability to detect and respond to an impact threat in time? Do we have the capabilities to properly mitigate the issue, let alone within a good timeframe? With improved telescope technology like the upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory coming online, how quickly could we realistically close this detection gap — and should planetary defense funding be treated as a global priority on par with climate change?

That is „near“ in astronomical terms. There is a reason we say astronomical for something unfathomably huge.