NASA has formalized its efforts to prevent asteroids and comets from striking Earth by opening the Planetary Defense Coordination Office which is tasked with monitoring and even deflecting potentially dangerous objects.

While the likelihood of an asteroid colliding with Earth is small, the result could be disastrous. 

In response to the general threat, NASA has been mobilizing its resources and coordinating with other agencies to prevent such an event from happening. 

Last month, the agency announced that these efforts will be centralized into the newly created Planetary Defense Coordination Office which is tasked with “detecting and tracking near-Earth objects,” or NEOs. 

While NASA has