&gt; Wouldn&#x27;t we be better off making sure we can reliably find them first?<p>People are already are working on that. For example, there&#x27;s the NEOWISE project[0], which used the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer to look for potentially dangerous astroids. And there is a ongoing effort for a new space mission, NEOCAM[1], specifically designed to do this same thing and find more objects.<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;neo.jpl.nasa.gov&#x2F;programs&#x2F;neowise.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;neo.jpl.nasa.gov&#x2F;programs&#x2F;neowise.html</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Near-Earth_Object_Camera" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Near-Earth_Object_Camera</a>