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The US governement from it's beginning has funded scientific research with taxpayers monies. I have no problem with it. The odds are long, but if we hit this jackpot that's probably the end of civilization for possibly thousands of years, and very possibly the end of sapient life on earth. We need to fund these programs. I have never quibbled with NASA's budget, even at times I have thought they had less than inspired leadership and objectives.

I don't quite get why everyone is treating the asteroid like it WILL hit. I'm not replying to directly you, but in general. We should pay attention, but why get panicky over something with a very slim chance of hitting in 17 years? Second, if it does hit, we will have years of advanced warning and we can get to work preparing. I think when we think of an asteroid strike, we naturally think of the dinosaurs. But those dinos weren't too smart. We could find a way to make people safe and wait it out. I know it's not that simple, but the point is that we will have years to prepare, since this thing won't destroy the planet (the one that took out the dinos was nine times bigger and packed 100 times the power of this one). Anyway, it is very important that we build an asteroid detection and deflection system. But I'm more concerned about being blindsided by a rock we don't know about with no warning than with a rock we have a lot of time to prepare for and has a very slim chance of hitting at all.