"Humanity has never tried to stop an asteroid impact for real." Illustration of NASA’s DART spacecraft with images of the asteroids Dimorphos (left) and Didymos (right) obtained by DART. Rubble pile asteroids like Dimorphos are thought to be bound together with very weak forces and mostly gravity, making them easier to break apart than a single boulder Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Joshua Diaz An asteroid discovered late last year is continuing to stir public interest as its odds of striking pl...