Cosmic Collisions

The text talks about the possibility of an asteroid or comet nucleus colliding with Earth and the ways to prevent it. Unlike other natural disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes, an asteroid collision can be prevented. The text mentions that chemical explosives, kinetic energy impactors, and nuclear munitions are the only technologies that are readily available for the near term. However, deflection is the preferred option because we cannot reliably predict the fragmentation and dispersal of an asteroid.