NASA, Blue Origin to track asteroids threatening Earth
Blue Origin (yep, Jeff Bezos's space company) is partnering with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on a new mission called NEO Hunter.
Their goal? Spot and track asteroids that could threaten Earth, using the Blue Ring spacecraft, that debuted aboard Blue Origin's New Glenn maiden flight in early 2025.
Asteroid nudging tech
Right now, we are only tracking about 40% of the 25,000 near-Earth asteroids scientists think are out there—which means a lot could still surprise us.
Blue Origin plans to use some pretty cool tech, like ion beams and kinetic impactors (inspired by NASA's DART mission), to help nudge risky asteroids away if needed.
Meanwhile, NASA is also working on better asteroid-spotting tools with its NEO Surveyor project.
Basically: more eyes in the sky means a safer planet for all of us.