However, Jay Melosh, an American geophysicist, has urged the public not to fear as he has a genius way of saving the planet, should an asteroid be on a collision course.
He revealed during Amazon Prime’s “Asteroid Trackers” series how NASA could knock the space rock off course.
He said in 2009: “In space, we would use a mirror like a magnifying glass.
“As we hit the asteroid, we begin to vaporise material and, as it vaporises, the asteroid gets pushed the other way.