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" First, yes, a collective deep breath, everyone: Scientists say that meteorites like the one that hit Russia a few hours ago happen once every five or so years. And even then, they normally land in unpopulated areas (likely the ocean, we would guess). Today was a rare day. For those still concerned, meet the NEOShield, an actual in-the-works collaboration between private and national research institutions across Europe, Russia, and the United States working toward, as its name implies, a shield for earth. No, not a big surrounding enclosure, but a series of techniques to deflect not just meteorites, but also other, even larger Near Earth Objects, like asteroids. (Again, exhale: today an asteroid is coming as close as we&amp;#039;ve ever known, but it&amp;#039;s not hitting the planet. Today still is a rare day.) Here are the three methods the project is developing. They&amp;#039;re all the stuff of intergalactic childhood fantasy and video games: Gravity Tractor (Move It) The most graceful option: Launch a spacecraft to hover around the asteroid, using the inherent mutual gravitational pull to redirect its trajectory away from earth. The trick, though, is to be able to control such a spacecraft over what may be a decade-long period (because scientists can sometimes know about these that many years in advance). Kinetic Impactor (Hit It) Researchers have already put this option in terms of Don Quixote. Launch an orbiter, &amp;quot;Sancho,&amp;quot; to rotate around the space-object and figure out how fast it&amp;#039;s moving, the magnitude of its gravity field, and other data points. Then, send out an impactor, &amp;quot;Hidalgo,&amp;quot; to crash right into it, changing its course. (The explanatory animation on the program&amp;#039;s site comes with an appropriately dramatic soundtrack.) Blast Deflection (Blow It Up) Nuke it. Or repeatedly bomb it with smaller explosives. Or, perhaps, bury an explosive in it. The obvious concern with this one is, if it fails, there may be a large number of chunks hurtling toward earth, which is not ideal. And because of that, this is currently the least preferred method. So, anyway, out now from under the desk. Come on. None of that doom and gloom. The sky might be falling, but technically, it always is. And it just so happens the world is working \u2014 together \u2014 on a global shield. It&amp;#039;s as good a Friday as any. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/cars/a17498/the-global-asteroid-shield-15104338/?click=news>