Lest you think this is science fiction and that no one would ever fund this from a business standpoint, consider the Class M asteroid pictured below.

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One asteroid, the 300-m Apophis, will pass relatively close to Earth a number of times in the coming decades, including in 2029.

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The Deep Space 1 spacecraft is scheduled at 12:46 a.m. to come within 15 kilometers (10 miles) of an asteroid called Braille.

CNN: Spacecraft set for risky asteroid flyby

In what astronomers said was an unrelated coincidence, a larger asteroid, called 2012 DA14, passed relatively close to Earth around 2:24 p.m.

CNN: Russia starts clean-up after meteor strike