An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. It could happen again. No object that size has threatened Earth since — but scientists aren't letting their guard down. While NASA leads the search for potentially dangerous space rocks, Michigan State University researchers support the effort with critical insights on how asteroids behave, and how they might be deflected.

As contributors to NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, College of Natural Science planetary scientists help shape strategies for protecting Earth from future impacts.

It's a chance for Seth Jacobson, Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, to take his research from theory to real-world application.

Jacobson was part of a scientific working group on NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, team. In recent years, the group worked with NASA to launch a spacecraft and test their theory that the ship could nudge an asteroid off course.