An asteroid impact would have catastrophic consequences like the extinction of dinosaurs. While dinosaurs had small brains, human intelligence allows us to study the world and develop technical solutions to prevent doomsday scenarios from asteroids. The document then outlines 10 plans that have been proposed to deflect or destroy incoming asteroids, including using nuclear weapons, kinetic impactors, solar sails, wrapping asteroids in carbon fiber nets, focusing solar radiation with mirrors, landing spacecraft to redirect asteroids, and even having robots literally eat away at asteroids.

1. Incase you don’t fancy astro-apocalyptic sci-fi movies, we should tell you that getting our
planet hit by an asteroid is a really bad thing. Dinosaurs paid the price by extinction.
Dinosaurs were unfortunately dumb… but lucky for us; evolution has provided us with a
huge brain compared to the walnut sized brain of a T-Rex. We have studied the world
around us, accumulated knowledge, advanced our technical ability enough to try and
prevent a doomsday scenario. We can never be sure when we detect a giant rock hurtling
towards earth. Most scientists say that is not a question of ‘if’ rather, it’s a question of
‘when’. Point being that it’s important that we prepare. Lets take a detour through the
10 plans human kind has conjured up to prevent their extinction. Here is a hint…. Bruce
Willis is not involved.
Its only fair to bring out the biggest of our big guns against natures cannonballs. Let’s put
our nuclear arsenal to good use. One of the most pervasive ideas is to give a gift basket—
nuclear laden gift basket—to our un-invited guest. The intention is not to annihilate it,
but rather deflect it from its course. Mind you even if we have the power to destroy it,
we should not; because the debris would create havoc in what will appear to be a fire
storm. This deflection technique has a clever side to it. The major catalyst for deflection
is not the blast force, but it is in-fact the radiation from the blast that will vaporize
material on the affected surface of the asteroid. The vaporized material will shoot from
the surface inducing a propulsive effect that will steer the asteroid from the original
course.
To the pacifist scientific lobby, nuking the asteroid might seem like over reacting. Some
believe that a good beating ought to correct its malicious intentions. NASA proposes what
they call a “kinetic interceptor.” The idea is to hit the asteroid with an object that will
hit it, without fracturing it; just enough to change its course.

2. There is another idea that might sound odd, but some people revere it as a very effective
strategy. Why not redecorate the asteroid and give it a new paint job? No, the idea is to
not “please” the asteroid into changing its mind. Rather it’s a nifty fix that doesn’t make
sense at first sight, but is very clever. There exists something that they call "solar
powered orbital mechanics," and this technique relies on that. Its common practice to
wear a white shirt on a sunny day, because it reflects solar radiation and keeps you cool
(darker shades absorb radiation). An asteroid that has been painted white on one side will
experience a certain push because of the solar radiation that hits it. The differential of
reflectivity and hence the force experienced between the faces of the asteroid is
expected to provide a nudge, enough to divert the space rock for a near earth miss.
It’s no surprise that not everyone is happy with the idea of giving your enemy a free
makeover. But using solar winds and radiation pressure is a part of many other strategies
that were devised to take care of this menace. For example, you can land a spacecraft on
to the asteroid to attach a large solar sail. The sail is expected to reflect solar radiation
and use the generated force to push the asteroid in another direction. If adjusted, the
sails can even provide a certain degree of control: this can come in handy if we decide to
wage a war against Martians. Not many people are optimistic about this strategy, because
deploying a solar sail on a spinning surface with tumbling rocks isn’t exactly an easy task.
Although we should mention that mankind has successfully landed their pods on top of
asteroids before—a remarkable feat indeed.
But then you could also net it? We have seen it work in the cartoons and we are all well
aware that cartoons mean serious business. Scientists propose using a carbon fiber mesh
that could act like a solar sail. An asteroid by the name Apophis is mischievous; it is
expected to make a—not so near—fly by in 2029 and then again in 2036, just to tease us.
Scientists suggest that a net weighing 550 pounds wrapped around the asteroid for 18
years would be enough to provide salvation to us poor souls.
Mirrors are known for their powerful properties. They have defeated vampires, gorgons
and general ugliness, so they must surely have a way of defeating asteroids? The mirror
method for asteroids works on the similar principal as the nuclear option mentioned

3. earlier. Positioning mirrors strategically to focus solar radiation on specific points on an
asteroid to heat up and trigger vapor ejection can alter the rocks course and buy you
more days to binge on Netflix. The older versions of this idea proposed using large pieces
of mirror, but recent models suggest plenty of small ones working synchronously.
Scientists refer to it as ‘laser sublimation,’
Sometimes being direct does it. No more mister nice guy; lets brute force it off the
course. We should take inspiration from the Wile E. cyote and order an ‘ACME’ rocket
that will lodge into and steer the course of our impending doom; or at least something of
that sort. The more realistic version of this idea proposes that we land a vessel that will
dig in and plant some chemical rockets into the surface which when fired will do the
deed.
A "gravitational tractor" might sound like a mammoth contraption from a star trek movie.
But rest assured it’s a pretty simple concept. We are well aware that every object in the
universe that has a mass can exert a gravitational force. Gravity is a weak force but it is
easy to generate as all we need is some mass. All we need to do is to get a super massive
robot near the incoming projectile to gently tow it away from us. But this idea meets a
lot of criticism because there are some illogical technical aspects to it. The gravitational
pull might also pull the aircraft towards the asteroid and to prevent it from doing that it
will have to fire thrusters that will be pointing at the asteroid. This is where Newton’s
third law sends you a reality check that says that the thrusters will undo any pull that was
exerted earlier. Besides, making a robot this size and launching involves costs of epic
proportions. Maybe we are better off with the paint job idea.

4. If you can’t beat it… eat it! It sounds like a plan, and as you read this, some people are
working on this idea. The idea is to make swarms of hungry robots on to an incoming
asteroid, which sounds like a rant from a mad person or a very dedicated foodie. NASA is
funding a program by the name ‘Modular Asteroid Deflection Mission Ejector Node’ which
ironically, you may call ‘MADMEN’. Robots powered by nuclear energy can be sent to the
rocks surface to literally start binging on it. The chewed off rocks will be ejected from
the surface at a high speed using electromagnets. This is expected to deliver a thrust
without any need for planting chemical rockets. But this is complex idea that needs much
development.
But if all goes south, and every item on this list fails to do anything about ‘armageddon’
we can either sun bathe with Bruce willis and his fellow roughnecks at some beach, or we
could break into panic. It does sound enticing to raid super markets to hoard food and to
break into riots trying to get access to super-secret-underground-government-owned-
nuclear-bunkers. If you plan to survive on the road, it might be a good idea to binge on
‘the walking dead’ episodes. In your spare time you could indulge in some fun activity like
leaving secret notes and buried treasures for cockroaches which—mind you—are destined
to become the next dominant species on the planet.