The Tunguska event is believed to be the largest meteorite-related impact in recent history. It occurred back in 1908 and is said to have leveled 830 square miles of Siberia with an explosion a thousand times more powerful than the Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Consider the potential damage and loss of life if an incident like this were to happen in a populated area.

Senior lecturer in astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State Chris Palma believes that this will happen again. He pointed out that, "throughout Earth's history, we have been bombarded by comets and asteroids from space. Impacts happened more frequently in the past, but they will happen again. It is just a matter of when."

He explained that when it does happen, we can probably expect multiple casualties and immense property damage. He stated that it is difficult to give a good estimate since we have no experience with these scenarios. Luckily, we may not even have to consider this scenario since the U.S. Government has passed a law which requires NASA to survey near Earth objects and develop a method to divert them from hitting our planet.

So far multiple methods have been proposed to deflect any asteroids that may threaten to hit Earth. Palma noted one of the methods being proposed which involved using the gravitational pull of a large unmanned space craft to divert the asteroid from its current path. Palma stated that this model is a good theoretical starting point but "not one that is necessarily going to be feasible if applied."

Palma believes that NASA is indeed doing something about this potential danger to our planet. However, he feels that the organization should be doing more to develop a working solution to this ever present danger.