] They are out there, ready to smack into the Earth and
] wipe out human civilization, but astronomers said on
] Wednesday they are well on their way to finding every
] asteroid that poses a threat.
]
] The next task will be to look for smaller objects that
] might just destroy, say, a city, the experts told the
] U.S. Senate's Subcommittee on Science, Technology and
] Space.
]
] In an update on the Near Earth Object Observation
] Program, experts told the Senate subcommittee that they
] are on schedule to finding everything bigger than 1
] kilometer in diameter that might approach the planet.
]
] "The survey officially started in 1998 and to date more
] than 700 objects of an estimated population of about
] 1,100 have been discovered, so the effort is now believed
] to be over 70 percent complete and well on the way to
] meeting its objective by 2008," NASA's Lindley Johnson
] told the hearing.

Good news. Nothing like the impact of a mile-wide wide rock from outer space to ruin your day. -LB