Although astronomers track many of the largest and most dangerous asteroids in our solar system, there is a bright blind spot in the sky near the Sun. Fortunately, ESA plans to close the gap soon with NEOMIR, a mission that will give us early warning of any Earth-bound rock in this direction.

As we’ve seen in the past, collisions with asteroids can have devastating consequences. Since the 1990s, NASA and other organizations have made a concerted effort to identify and track as many space rocks as possible to predict when and whether an impact will occur. If detected early enough, we have a chance to intervene – after all, a recent test of reorienting an asteroid by striking a spacecraft on it was successful.

So far these searches have been successful, but there is one direction asteroids may be approaching us: If something from the Sun is approaching, the glow makes it difficult for observatories to see. For example, the meteorite that exploded over Chelyabinsk in 2013 blinded us completely as it hid under the glare of the Sun. Using the Dark Energy Camera, astronomers recently discovered several huge, potentially dangerous asteroids lurking in the area.

But I hope we don’t experience this blind spot for long. ESA is currently planning a mission that will specialize in observing medium-sized asteroids approaching from the Sun, giving us plenty of time to respond.

Known as the Near-Earth Infrared Object (NEOMIR) mission, the project will place the spacecraft at Lagrange Point 1 in orbit between Earth and the Sun. From there, it will use infrared instruments to observe heat. is emitted by the asteroids themselves, which allows them to be seen in a way that sunlight is not wiped out. Earth-centered telescopes cannot see this heat because it is absorbed by the atmosphere.

From this perspective, NEOMIR should notify us at least three weeks before any approaching asteroid. Even in the worst case scenario, if a space rock flies past the observatory, we still get a three-day warning.

This may not seem like much of a time to do anything but panic, but we’re not talking about worldwide apocalypse. NEOMIR is designed to observe asteroids several tens of meters in diameter, such as the 20-metre (66-foot) Chelyabinsk meteor estimated to be about 50 meters (164 feet) in diameter, or the Tunguska object in 1908.

These events still caused significant damage to an area the size of a city, with windows bursting in the first and knocking down trees in the second. If a disaster of this magnitude could be predicted days or weeks in advance, people in the area would be given time to evacuate or prepare.

NEOMIR is currently in the early stages of mission work and if all goes as planned, we hope it could be launched around 2030. If so, it could be an important addition to our asteroid observation toolkit.