Move over, Bruce Willis: NASA is shoving an asteroid to test planetary defense
Hollywood likes to blow up incoming asteroids with nukes, but NASA's first test of whether it can change the trajectory of a space rock will try just giving one a little nudge.
Nuclear bombs. That's the go-to answer for incoming space objects like asteroids and comets, as far as Hollywood is concerned. Movies like Deep Impact and Armageddon rely on nukes, delivered by stars like Bruce Willis, to save the world and deliver the drama.
But planetary defense experts say in reality, if astronomers spotted a dangerous incoming space rock, the safest and best answer might be something more subtle, like simply pushing it off course by ramming it with a small spacecraft.
That's just what NASA is getting ready to try, with a spacecraft that's scheduled to smack into an
