NASA asteroid hunter mission moves into next phase of development - SpaceNews

NEO Surveyor is a version of a concept called NEOCam that competed in NASA’s Discovery program of planetary science missions.

In 2019, NASA decided to pursue development of NEO Surveyor as a directed mission, rather than one that would compete for Discovery program funding.

NEO Surveyor received $28.3 million in NASA’s fiscal year 2021 appropriations bill, but the agency requested $143.2 million for the mission in its fiscal year 2022 budget proposal released May 28.

That budget request projected spending $811.2 million on NEO Surveyor in fiscal years 2022 through 2026.