Space rock 'on collision course'

Miniscule, but not impossible.

Of course, it's also conceivable that we can calibrate our missile weaponry to intercept such an object. We've put entire ships into space and sent complex satellites on finely calculated journeys past Saturn. I hold no fears that, by 2019, we'll be unable to throw a few glorified bombs into the meteor's path. One atomic bomb levelled Nagasaki. I think two or three could handle a rock with a span of only a couple kilometers. It doesn't even require much fuel. Just enough for a missile to escape Earth's orbit. From there, the flight path would be calculated and the missile could probably coast toward its target.

If it weren't for oversensationalized films like Armageddon and Deep Impact, the general population would react far more rationally to this kind of news.

Jam it back in, in the dark.