How do space agencies plan to deflect asteroids?

Space agencies use special tricks to nudge asteroids away from Earth, like giving them a gentle push or a big tap.

Imagine you're playing with marbles on a table. If one marble is heading straight for your toy car, you might give it a little poke so it goes somewhere else instead of crashing into the car. That's what space agencies do, but with huge rocks in space!

One way to deflect an asteroid is by sending a spacecraft to bump into it. This is like when you push your friend on a swing, the swing moves because of the push. The spacecraft hits the asteroid, and that tiny push changes its path just enough so it doesn't hit Earth.

Sometimes they use something called gravity assist. It's like using a heavy book to give a marble a bigger push. A spacecraft flies close to the asteroid, and because of gravity, the asteroid gets a bigger nudge, kind of like when you swing around on a playground and get extra speed from the swing.

Space agencies pick which trick to use based on how big the asteroid is and how much time they have!