For one, experts in planetary protection ( a real thing) say it would be a lot simpler to just push a deadly incoming asteroid into a safer orbit. Saving the planet ought to be as easy as the press of a thermonuclear button, right? After all, that’s how Bruce Willis saved the world in Armageddon.
If you were a moviegoer in the late ’90s, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking the best way to deal with an apocalyptic-size asteroid hurtling toward Earth is to blow it to smithereens.