A disaster right out of the movies is heading our way.

Full disclosure, I've been reading science fiction for a long, long time. And I can remember several books that had a similar scenario. A big rock flying through space is headed our way and we need to make it go somewhere else.  

Armageddon, the film from 1998, had a similar story with an interesting twist, let's send a group of blue-collar hard deep core drillers out into space to save us all. The movie was fun to watch, and it did get Aerosmith a number one hit on the radio.  

But it was a little farfetched. 

Now for a dose of reality. 

MSN is reporting that we have a big rock heading our way and that NASA has already picked out somebody to potentially save us. The rock is named ‘101955 Bennu”, it's over 490 meters across with sufficient mass that if it did collide with Earth, it would be a cataclysmic event. 

But before you start planning to sell everything and move into the mountains you need to know something crucial. 01955 Bennu and get here until September 24th,  2182. 

According to MSN.com,
“Nasa has already taken steps to mitigate the destruction an interstellar boulder like this will bring.
Those steps involved hiring Dante Lauretta, 54, a planetary science and cosmochemistry professor at the University of Arizona, to head up a mission to research, chart and even sample 101955 Bennu.” 

I have to be honest with you that it is so far off that I have a real problem getting excited about it. But I'm also confident that by the time it gets close enough to for us to affect its trajectory. We will have a much better understanding of how to deflect this object. 

NASA is taking this thing very seriously. In September of last year, they launched the Osiris-REx mission to study it and even bring a sample rock back for us to take a look. 

Also, don't forget about NASA's DART mission in 2022. Their first attempt to affect the trajectory of an asteroid in space. The experiment was successful to a small degree and they're still analyzing the data to see just how much the impact deflected the asteroid and enhance its effect.

If you want to read more about that. Check out the link below.
Early Results from NASA’s DART Mission - NASA 

Relax, this is a problem that your grandkids are probably going to solve. 
OK, maybe your great grandkids. 

Asteroid bigger than the Empire State Building hurtling towards Earth as Nasa hires man to stop it (msn.com)