AllMovie

While we sleep, a hidden predator prowls the night skies. Nova exposes the dangers of space debris in Nova: The Doomsday Asteroid. Hundreds of millions of asteroids pass by the Earth according to astronomer Steve Ostro and most have the potential to create serious damage. History teaches that the planet underwent a bombardment period three billion years ago. Since then, collisions have supposedly slowed down, but scientists are still worried. A crater found on the Yucatan Peninsula measured 100 miles across and was blamed for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Siberia hosted a meteor accident in 1908 that wrecked forests within 1,000 square miles. An asteroid that hit Jupiter left a mark visible from Earth. Nova reveals that the dangers posed by a potential run-in with a floating comet are significant. Star Wars is a possible defense mechanism because changing an asteroid's path by a mere millimeter could mean survival. But, is the planet prepared for a collision that could be a thousand times deadlier than Hiroshima? Nova goes high tech to find the answer.