NASA's new planetary defence telescope will protect us with knowledge

NASA is planning the construction of a new telescope that is designed to give Earth a new level of planetary defence.

NASA has said the new telescope will be called the Near-Earth Object Surveyor, or NEO Surveyor for short. The NEO Surveyor is designed to monitor near-Earth objects such as asteroids, and will relay information back to NASA about objects' position, trajectory, etc. The NEO Surveyor will track objects that are within 30 million miles of Earth, and so far, researchers believe there are 25,000 near-Earth-objects within that vicinity.

Amy Mainzer of the University of Arizona said, "We think there are about 25,000 NEOs large enough to wipe out an area like Southern California. Once they get bigger than about 450 feet in diameter, they can cause severe regional damage. We want to find these, and as many smaller ones as possible." Near-Earth asteroids that are approaching Earth radiate heat signatures that the NEO Surveyor will be able to detect as it's equipped with heat-sensitive cameras. For more information on this story, check out this link here.