Ultimately we need to get off this rock as a species; the Earth is fairly overdue (statistically as I understand it) for a major asteroid hit.

We seem to have this hubris that we'll be able to "detect and deflect" - both of which are unlikely with our current technology for any size dire enough to care about.

We don't even have the "detect" part in place - not in the way it needs to be. As more than a few recent incidents have shown, we're currently blind and a sitting duck, so to speak.

Even a relatively small strike, depending on where it landed, could potentially trigger a nuclear launch depending on the political climate and such at the time. We need better eyes, if for nothing else than the avert that kind of "misunderstanding" which could lead to an existential crisis.