What does 'potentially hazardous' mean?

A Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) passes within 0.05 AU (~7.5 million km) and is larger than 140 meters. This doesn't mean it will hit Earth — just that its orbit warrants monitoring.

How frequently is the asteroid data updated?

The NeoWs API is updated daily with the latest orbital calculations and close approach tracking data from JPL's Center for Near Earth Object Studies.

Does this API include data on historical asteroid impacts?

Yes, the API provides access to fireball and bolide data, which tracks bright atmospheric meteor events detected by government sensors, including historical records.

NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense MCP Server for Claude Desktop 5 tools — connect in under 2 minutes

Name: NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense
Availability: InStock
Author: Vinkius

modelcontextprotocol.io/quickstart/user

Built by Vinkius GDPR 5 Tools IDE

Claude Desktop is Anthropic's native application for interacting with Claude AI models on macOS and Windows. It was the first consumer application to ship with built-in MCP support, making it the reference implementation for the Model Context Protocol standard.

Get MCP Server for AI Agents

ASK AI ABOUT THIS MCP SERVER

Open in ChatGPT Open in Claude Open in Perplexity

Vinkius supports streamable HTTP and SSE.

RecommendedModern Approach — Zero Configuration

Vinkius Desktop App

The modern way to manage MCP Servers — no config files, no terminal commands. Install NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense and 2,500+ MCP Servers from a single visual interface.

Download Free Open SourceNo signup required

Classic Setup·json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nasa-asteroids-near-earth-objects-planetary-defense": {
      // Your Vinkius token — get it at cloud.vinkius.com
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp"
    }
  }
}

NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense

Fully ManagedVinkius Servers

60%Token savings

High SecurityEnterprise-grade

IAMAccess control

EU AI ActCompliant

DLPData protection

V8 IsolateSandboxed

Ed25519Audit chain

<40msKill switch

Stream every event to Splunk, Datadog, or your own webhook in real-time

* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure

About NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense MCP Server

Complete asteroid intelligence from NASA's NeoWs API and JPL's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).

Claude Desktop is the definitive way to connect NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense to your AI workflow. Add the Vinkius Edge URL to your config, restart the app, and Claude immediately exposes all 5 tools in the chat interface — ask a question, Claude calls the right tool, and you see the answer. Zero code, zero context switching.

What you can do

NEO Feed — Asteroids making close approaches this week
Asteroid Details — Size, orbit, velocity, hazard assessment
Close Approaches — Future Earth encounters from CNEOS
Fireballs — Atmospheric impacts detected by sensors
Browse Catalog — Paginated access to all known NEOs

The NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense MCP Server exposes 5 tools through the Vinkius. Connect it to Claude Desktop in under two minutes — no API keys to rotate, no infrastructure to provision, no vendor lock-in. Your configuration, your data, your control.

How to Connect NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense to Claude Desktop via MCP

Follow these steps to integrate the NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense MCP Server with Claude Desktop.

Open Claude Desktop Settings

Go to Settings → Developer → Edit Config to open claude_desktop_config.json

Add the MCP Server

Paste the configuration above into the mcpServers section

Restart Claude Desktop

Close and reopen Claude Desktop to load the new server

Start using NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense

Look for the 🔌 icon in the chat — your 5 tools are now available

Why Use Claude Desktop with the NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense MCP Server

Claude Desktop by Anthropic provides unique advantages when paired with NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense through the Model Context Protocol.

Claude Desktop is the reference MCP client — it was designed alongside the protocol itself, ensuring the most complete and stable MCP implementation available

Zero-code configuration: add a server URL to a JSON file and Claude instantly discovers and exposes all available tools in the chat interface

Claude's extended thinking capability lets it reason through multi-step tool usage, chaining multiple API calls to answer complex questions

Enterprise-grade security with local config storage — your tokens never leave your machine, and connections go directly to the Vinkius Edge network

NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense + Claude Desktop Use Cases

Practical scenarios where Claude Desktop combined with the NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense MCP Server delivers measurable value.

Interactive data exploration: ask Claude to query DNS records, look up WHOIS data, and cross-reference results in a single conversation

Ad-hoc security audits: type a domain name and let Claude enumerate subdomains, check DNS history, and flag configuration anomalies — all through natural language

Executive briefings: generate comprehensive domain intelligence reports by asking Claude to compile findings into a formatted summary

Learning and training: new team members can explore API capabilities conversationally without needing to read documentation

NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense MCP Tools for Claude Desktop (5)

These 5 tools become available when you connect NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense to Claude Desktop via MCP:

get_close_approaches

Filter by distance threshold, date range, and minimum size. Critical for planetary defense monitoring. Get future close approaches of asteroids to Earth from JPL CNEOS

get_fireballs

Includes location, velocity, energy (kilotons of TNT equivalent), and altitude. Covers events worldwide. Get atmospheric fireball (bolide) events detected by US government sensors

get_neo_browse

Returns 20 asteroids per page. Use for exploring the complete known catalog of near-Earth objects. Browse the complete catalog of known near-Earth asteroids

get_neo_feed

Includes estimated diameter, velocity, miss distance, and whether potentially hazardous. Source: NASA NeoWs. Get near-Earth asteroids approaching within a date range

get_neo_lookup

Use SPK-IDs from the feed endpoint. Get detailed information about a specific asteroid by its NASA SPK-ID

Example Prompts for NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense in Claude Desktop

Ready-to-use prompts you can give your Claude Desktop agent to start working with NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense immediately.

"What asteroids are passing near Earth this week?"

"Are there any large asteroids approaching Earth next month?"

"Tell me about the recent fireball detected over the Pacific."

Troubleshooting NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense MCP Server with Claude Desktop

Common issues when connecting NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense to Claude Desktop through the Vinkius, and how to resolve them.

Server not appearing after restart

Ensure the JSON is valid (no trailing commas). Check the file path: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\\Claude\\ (Windows).

Authentication error

Verify your Vinkius token is correct. Go to cloud.vinkius.com to regenerate it if needed.

Tools not showing in chat

Click the 🔌 icon at the bottom of the chat input. If it shows 0 tools, the server may still be connecting — wait a few seconds.

NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense + Claude Desktop FAQ

Common questions about integrating NASA Asteroids — Near-Earth Objects & Planetary Defense MCP Server with Claude Desktop.

How does Claude Desktop discover MCP tools?

When Claude Desktop starts, it reads the claude_desktop_config.json file and connects to each configured MCP server. It calls the tools/list endpoint to fetch the schema for every available tool, then surfaces them as clickable options in the chat interface via the 🔌 icon.

What happens if the MCP server is temporarily unavailable?

Claude Desktop handles disconnections gracefully — if the server is unreachable at startup, the tools simply won't appear. Once the server becomes available again, restarting Claude Desktop will re-establish the connection. There is no timeout penalty or error loop.

Can I connect multiple MCP servers simultaneously?

Yes. You can add as many servers as you need in the mcpServers section of the config file. Each server appears as a separate tool provider, and Claude can use tools from multiple servers in a single conversation turn.

Is there a limit on the number of tools per server?

Claude Desktop can handle hundreds of tools per server. However, for optimal LLM performance, Vinkius servers are designed to expose focused, well-documented tool sets rather than overwhelming the model with too many options.

Does Claude Desktop support Streamable HTTP transport?

Yes. Claude Desktop supports both SSE (Server-Sent Events) and the newer Streamable HTTP transport that Vinkius uses. Simply provide the server URL — Claude auto-negotiates the transport protocol.