Could a cosmic lasso divert extinction-level asteroids?

IN 2013, A METEOR EXPLODED 22.5 KM (14 MILES) above Chelyabinsk, Russia, knocking out windows across 500 km2 and injuring more than 1 600 people. It was a wake-up call for astronomers to help defend Earth from more potentially hazardous asteroids.

Of the almost one million known comets and asteroids in our solar system, more than 2 000 have the potential to be hazardous to Earth. These asteroids are typically 140m wide or larger, on an orbit that swings them within