[kach22i]

Originally Posted by jyl

A mission to develop asteroid re-direction techniques was recently killed.

https://thespacereporter.com/2017/04/asteroid-redirect-mission-put-hold/

It is puzzling to me why the USA hasn't developed an asteroid interceptor.

The big five mass extinctions
https://cosmosmagazine.com/palaeontology/big-five-extinctions

I don't see how saving the Earth is political, but somehow it just became so.

Biologists suspect we’re living through the sixth major mass extinction. Earth has witnessed five, when more than 75% of species disappeared. Palaeontologists spot them when species go missing from the global fossil record, including the iconic specimens shown here. “We don’t always know what caused them but most had something to do with rapid climate change”, says Melbourne Museum palaeontologist Rolf Schmidt.

I'd spend an extra $10 a year in taxes if it meant protecting us from extinction.