NASA recently confirmed that it could deflect a deadly asteroid from its path towards Earth, but it still leaves people wondering how they would survive if it collided with our planet.
The last catastrophic impact occurred 66 million years ago, killing the dinosaurs, and some scientists think we should expect another "big impact".
With this inevitable doom looming over the scientific community, researchers are working tirelessly on guidelines to help humanity survive.
The first step would be to destroy the asteroid before it's too late, and while the US space agency appears to have this covered, more than 2,000 potentially dangerous space rocks are waiting to slip under their radar.
And NASA launched the Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) in 2022 for humanity's first planetary defense mission. The spacecraft's target was a moon called Dimorphos around its parent asteroid, Didymus.
And on March 1, 2023, NASA confirmed that the mission had achieved an overwhelming success.
"This is a proof-of-concept of kinetic collision technology for planetary defence," said scientists from Northern Arizona University. "DART needed to prove that they could target an asteroid during a high-speed encounter and that the target's orbit could be altered."
The researchers said that the probability of an asteroid the size of "Chickxulub" colliding with our planet is one every 100 to 200 million years - but the event is not impossible.
And if NASA fails to scatter the huge space rocks, experts said the next best option is to leave the zone of impact and move away from coastal areas.
And since the Earth contains 71% of water, there is a greater chance that the asteroid will fall into the ocean.
When that happens, the impact will create tsunamis that will engulf all nearby lands.
A 9.1-magnitude earthquake hit under the sea off the coast of Japan on March 11, 2011. It caused a powerful tsunami that led to the collapse of 3 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and forced hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate the area.
Official figures released in 2021 reported that 19,747 people were killed, 6,242 injured and 2,556 people missing from the tsunami. And those that might occur from an asteroid collision would be very destructive.
Another survival tip is to seek shelter underground.
However, when an asteroid strikes, it releases dust, debris, and even toxic gases that may linger in the atmosphere for years - even decades.
Scientists believe that the safest place is an underground bunker.
Bunkers can be very expensive, ranging from $20,000 to $1 million and up, making these shelters more of a luxury than a necessity.
One company, The Vivos Group, is building the bunkers for $35,000 with a maximum capacity of 24 people.
A complex of such facilities in South Dakota houses 10,000 people and is hailed as "Humanity's Backup Plan".
And if you've made it this far, after impact, the scientists suggest staying in the shelter until you prove the environment is safe.
This can be done by constantly checking the air outside to ensure normal levels, making sure that fires and floods have receded and that acid rain is not falling from the sky.
One option eliminates the need for a survival guide and draws inspiration from the movie Don't Look Up - Waiting Until It's Too Late and Accepting the End of Humanity.
Released in January 2022, the movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, portraying two astronomers who race against time to warn the world of an impending planet-destroying asteroid.
They learn of a comet coming towards Earth in six months and 14 days and try to warn the world of this discovery, but people don't care about bad news about the future - the Earth and all living things are destroyed in a ball of flame.
Source: Daily Mail
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SCIENCE UPDATE