NASA analysis of asteroid risk deeply flawed, critics say

A NASA working document on ways to find and deflect celestial objects that might threaten Earth is deeply flawed in ways that exaggerate the cost and difficulty of the programme, critics say.

In December 2005, the US Congress gave NASA one year to submit plans for a survey that would catalog 90% of all potentially hazardous near-Earth objects – spanning at least 140 metres across – by the end of 2020.

In March 2007, the agency delivered to Congress only a sketchy 27-page report that lacked any detailed analysis, a budget or an implementation plan. It recommends continuing NASA's annual $4.1 million search for asteroids down to 1 kilometre across. But it does not address searches for smaller asteroids, saying flatly, "due to current budget constraints, NASA cannot initiate a new program at this time".