MIT Professor Advocates Ending Asteroid Redirect Mission To Fund Asteroid Survey

MarkWhittington writes Professor Richard Binzel published a commentary in the journal Nature that called for two things. He proposed that NASA cancel the Asteroid Redirect Mission currently planned for the early 2020s. Instead, he would like the asteroid survey mandated by the George E. Brown, Jr. Near-Earth Object Survey Act of 2005, part of the 2005 NASA Authorization Act, funded at $200 million a year. Currently NASA funds the survey at $20 million a year, considered inadequate to complete the identification of 90 percent of hazardous near-Earth objects 140 meters or greater by 2020 as mandated by the law.

Comments

But where are the potentional profits?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no profit to be made on determining which asteroids may or may not kill us all. There IS profit to be made on mining asteroids.

It's hard to get an idea pushed forward if you can't show people the money.