House subcommittee reviews NASA planetary defense as survey mission, data systems and budgets face scrutiny

A congressional subcommittee on space and aeronautics heard witnesses on NASA’s planetary defense program on issues ranging from detection shortfalls to mitigation tests, data handling and the potential effects of proposed federal budget cuts.

The hearing opened with Chairman Robert Heridopolos calling the topic “one of the most important” for public safety and noting recent near‑Earth object (NEO) discoveries that briefly registered nonzero impact probabilities. “Protecting our planet from threatening asteroids and comets must be a top priority for NASA,” said Chairman Brian Babin of the full committee during his remarks introducing the topic.

Why it matters: NASA and international partners are responsible for detecting, cataloging and, if necessary, deflecting hazardous objects. Witnesses described progress — notably the 2022 Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) demonstration — and persistent gaps in discovery and data processing that depend on sustained funding, ground and space assets, and international coordination.

Dr. Nicola Fox, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, told the panel the agency and its global partners currently “do not know of any sizable object that has a significant risk of impacting Earth in the next hundred years,” while stressing that many smaller but still dangerous objects remain undetected. Fox said NASA is building the NEO Surveyor space telescope…