Asteroid impact avoidance

Asteroid deflection

Asteroid impact avoidance is a method to destroy near-Earth objects (NEO) which are on a potential collision course with Earth. This method includes launching a rocket, satellite or other foreign object into an NEO to prevent it from crashing into Earth.^[1]^[2]

Ongoing projects

Sentinel mission

The B612 Foundation is a private nonprofit foundation dedicated to protecting the Earth from asteroid attacks.

Asteroid Impact Avoidance Media

Kinetic impactors such as the one used by the Double Asteroid Redirection Test – its impact with the asteroid moon Dimorphos photographed above – are one of many methods, designed to alter the trajectory of an asteroid to prevent its potential collision with Earth.
Damage caused by the Tunguska event. The object was 50–80 meters (160–260 ft) across and exploded 6–10 km (3.7–6.2 mi) above the surface; its explosion flattened 30 million trees and shattered windows hundreds of kilometers away.
Frequency of small asteroids roughly 1 to 20 meters in diameter impacting Earth's atmosphere.
Number of NEOs detected by various projects.
NEOWISE – first four years of data starting in December 2013 (animated; April 20, 2018)
Why asteroid impact probability often goes up, then down.
"Who knows whether, when a comet shall approach this globe to destroy it ... men will not tear rocks from their foundations by means of steam, and hurl mountains, as the giants are said to have done, against the flaming mass?"— Lord Byron
Compiled timelapse of DART's final 5.5 minutes until impact