On February 18, 2026, NASA released data showing about 15,000 mid-sized near-Earth asteroids remain untracked. The report exposed gaps in its asteroid tracker and confirmed no ready deflection system exists.
Asteroids 140 meters or larger can destroy an entire city. The tracker currently detects only about 40 percent of objects that size.
At the AAAS conference in Phoenix, acting planetary defense officer Kelly Fast warned about unseen mid-sized asteroids. “What keeps me up at night are the asteroids we don’t know about. It’s the ones in-between that could do regional damage. Maybe not global consequences, but they could really cause damage. And we don’t know where they all are. It’s not something that even with the best telescope in the world you could find.”
Nancy Chabot, who led the DART mission, said the test showed capability but not operational readiness. “DART was a great demonstration. But we don’t have [another] sitting around ready to go if there was a threat that we needed to use it for. If something like YR4 had been headed towards the Earth, we would not have any way to go and deflect it actively right now. We could be prepared for this threat. And I don’t see that investment being made.”
The disclosure has triggered risk discussions across defense, aerospace, and insurance markets. “It’s the only natural disaster we could potentially prevent.”
