New space telescope could spot potentially hazardous asteroids heading for Earth By Ashley Strickland, CNN enablePagination: false endIndex: A new space telescope that could spot potentially hazardous asteroids and comets heading for Earth is one step closer to reality. Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech (CNN) — A new space telescope that could spot potentially hazardous asteroids and comets heading for Earth is one step closer to reality. The Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope, or NEO Surveyor, has been approved by NASA to move forward to the design phase. The 20-foot-long (6-meter-long) infrared telescope would bolster planetary defense by helping astronomers find asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of Earth's orbit.=