Predict, deflect, survive How to avoid an asteroid apocalypse: Asteroid impacts are the only natural disasters that can be predicted but also avoided, says Ian Carnelli, manager of a new space mission called Hera, which the European Space Agency hopes will provide a blueprint for deflecting dangerous asteroids in the future

SHOOTING STARS, or meteors – pieces of rock that come from outer space and burn in the Earth's atmosphere when their trajectories cross that of our planet – provide a unique spectacle. When we are lucky to spot one, we make a wish. But when it comes to bigger pieces of rock, kilometres in diameter, the only wish we can currently make is for it not to hit us.