How to Kill an Asteroid

Finalist for the 2025 NASW Science in Society Journalism AwardOne of Smithsonian Magazine's Ten Best Science Books of 2024A Science News Favorite Book of 2024A gripping account of the "e;city-killer"e; asteroids that could threaten Earth and the race to build a planetary defense system.There are approximately 25,000 city killer asteroids in near-Earth orbitand most are yet to be found. Small enough to evade detection, they are capable of large-scale destruction, and represent our greatest cosmic threat. But in September 2022, against all odds, NASAs Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission deliberately crashed a spacecraft into a carefully selected city killer, altering the asteroids orbit and proving that we stand a chance against them.In How to Kill an Asteroid, award-winning science journalist Robin George Andrewswho was at DART mission control when it happenedreveals the development of the technology that made it possible, from spotting elusive asteroids and comets to figuring out their geologic defenses and orchestrating a deflection campaign. In a propulsive narrative that reads like a sci-fi thriller, Andrews tells the story of the planetary defense movement, and introduces the international team of scientists and engineers now working to protect Earth.