NASA: 15,000 Hidden Asteroids Could Cause Regional Devastation
NASA warns about roughly 15,000 near‑Earth asteroids larger than 140 meters that remain undetected due to sunward orbits and observational limits, creating a gap in planetary defense even though no immediate threat exists. Infrared space surveys (NEO Surveyor) and ground-based observatories (Rubin) aim to close this gap, but active defense would require long lead times and currently lacks a ready-to-deploy mission.