What are the best ways to stop an asteroid heading for the Earth?

Unlike other options that require the precise application of small forces, nuclear explosions would require minimal detailed information about the asteroid while still being effective.

This results in a simpler mission design that would only need basic details about the physical characteristics of the asteroid and its trajectory. The mission could also be designed to incrementally deflect the asteroid over multiple blasts which would reduce the overall technical risk of the mission.

NASA has already designed the mission and spacecraft required to deflect an asteroid via nuclear explosions.