Earth woefully unprepared for surprise comet or asteroid, Nasa scientist warns

Scientist recommended Nasa build an interceptor rocket, with periodic testing, alongside an observer spacecraft to stop catastrophic fireballs from hitting us

Humans are woefully unprepared for a surprise asteroid or comet, a Nasa scientist warned on Monday, at a presentation with nuclear scientists into how humans might deflect cosmic dangers hurtling toward Earth.

"The biggest problem, basically, is there's not a hell of a lot we can do about it at the moment," said Dr Joseph Nuth, a researcher with Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center.