News > Planetary Defense By the Numbers: May 2021

Planetary Defense By the Numbers: May 2021

Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets that orbit the Sun and come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit.

While many NEOs have been found and closely studied, NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office was established to manage the agency’s ongoing efforts to find, track, study, and if necessary, lead efforts to mitigate a potentially hazardous NEO that could pose a potential impact threat to Earth.