NASA Survey Counts Potentially Hazardous Asteroids

[micropage7]

Potentially hazardous asteroids, or PHAs, are a subset of the larger group of near-Earth asteroids. The PHAs have the closest orbits to Earth's, coming within five million miles (about eight million kilometers), and they are big enough to survive passing through Earth's atmosphere and cause damage on a regional, or greater, scale.
The new results come from the asteroid-hunting portion of the WISE mission, called NEOWISE. The project sampled 107 PHAs to make predictions about the entire population as a whole. Findings indicate there are roughly 4,700 PHAs, plus or minus 1,500, with diameters larger than 330 feet (about 100 meters). So far, an estimated 20 to 30 percent of these objects have been found.
While previous estimates of PHAs predicted similar numbers, they were rough approximations. NEOWISE has generated a more credible estimate of the objects' total numbers and sizes.
"The NEOWISE analysis shows us we've made a good start at finding those objects that truly represent an impact hazard to Earth," said Lindley Johnson, program executive for the Near-Earth Object Observation Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "But we've many more to find, and it will take a concerted effort during the next couple of decades to find all of them that could do serious damage or be a mission destination in the future."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0516180626.htm

[D007]

Ah so another category for these fellas.. 5k or so of them just roaming around, big enough to cause regional catastrophe.. Gotta <3 it.

[Inceptor]

A "regional asteroid catastrophe" would probably cause a mild to moderate global "asteroid winter". Which would lead to widespread crop failures, further leading to widespread famines; potentially millions to billions of people would die. The current world grain reserve is somewhere around 50 days supply.
Not so regional.

[ShiBDiB]

Am I the only asshole who thinks we'd be better off?