Leverage Factor

Guess such an impact might kill 20-80% of planet's population.

NASA currently spends $4m/year mapping near Earth asteroids (Bostrom & Cirkovic 2008 pg. 187). Guesstimate that increasing this budget to $10m might increase the chance that we have sufficient time to do something about an asteroid that is on a collision course by 10-20%.

Project Cost Real world outcome Outcome estimates Economic value in Western terms
Prevent asteroid impact $6m/year 10-20% chance save 20-80% of global population in event of 1 in 600,000/year event Save 10-20% x 20-80% x 7b x 1 / 600,000 years lives $470m-3.7b

Leverage Factor

80 - 600