“Just read this morning that there is TALK of a plan by NASA to look into nudging asteroids”
Whoever can do this will rule the world. They will have the capability to nudge rocks TOWARD Earth as well.
From http://www.nationalturk.com/en/star-trek-tractor-beam-nuclear-bomb-or-hitting-with-space-ship-16181
Project NEOShield : Savior of Planet Earth
The project NEOShield focuses on three methods of averting Armegeddon disaster: the Hollywoodesque solution of sending up a team of deep drillers with a powerful nuclear bomb to explode it, or frantically hurling all of our nuke arsenal at it; dragging it to safety with a Star Trek-inspired tractor beam; or hitting it with something we have more control over, like a big spaceship.
The project will explore the possibilities for kinetic impactors, gravity tractors and blast deflection as ways to save our planet from oblivion.