"Defending Our World" - from asteroids and comets.

Do you watch disaster movies? If so, you have probably seen "Armaggedon", starring Bruce Willis. In a last ditch effort to save us all from a planet killing collision with an asteroid, NASA sends two space shuttles loaded with drilling equipment and an atomic bomb to see if they can destroy the asteroid. Guess what. That is not as far fetched as you might think.
The January/February 2010 issue of "Planetary Report" focuses on collisions between Earth and asteroids, both past and future. According to the articles, it's only a matter of time before another asteroid hits the planet, and this time it wouldn't be just the dinosaurs that vanish. In 2036 "we now face the potential for another detected collision. In 2029, asteroid Apophis (270 meters in diameter) will pass withing 40,000 kilometers (24,800 miles) of Earth. . .In 2036, Apophis will make another close approach, and this time it could hit our planet (the current probability of impact is 1 in 250,000)."
Those odds make it more likely that this particular asteroid will hit Earth than that any one of us will win the big one in the lottery. And of course there are many more NEO (near earth objects) than have been spotted.
So are there any plans for either destroying or deflecting this or any other asteroid? And whose responsibility is it to see that a known threat is deflected? This issue of "Planetary Report" is available at the library for checkout. Come and find out what those who study these matters have on their minds.