[CurlyDave]

this is the most non partisan of issues and will be a long term threat. I hope whomever occupies the WH going forward will be working on this.

I see two hugely partisan aspects of this.

The first one is consulting international bodies. If we stop to do this, we will never accomplish the task, and our children will perish.

The second one is the very concept of deflecting an asteroid. I would vastly prefer an attempt to capture any such asteroid into earth orbit, claim it for the US, be prepared to militarily defend this new territory, and mine it.

A vast source of material which is not at the bottom of either Earth's gravity well or the Moon's would be an enormous advantage in the exploration and colonization of the solar system.

[BlueDragon]

I would vastly prefer an attempt to capture any such asteroid into earth orbit...

[balch3]

interesting idea. I thought asteroids were primarily composed of iron, which is abundant here on earth. What would be the upside of capturing one to mine?