Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion...14-oberg_x.htm
Author: James Oberg

"...Suppose a small asteroid was a potential threat to Earth.
We'd want to divert its orbit. But despite Hollywood's best
imaginations, we don't know how. To gain that knowledge, we
need more probes to nearby asteroids and even small-scale
experiments. Instead of going to the moon or Mars, there
could be a human mission to an asteroid passing near Earth..."