Here is the extreme case- an astroid is barreling towards the earth and we don't know if shooting a missile at it will save us. Do we do nothing because asteroi

Here is the extreme case- an astroid is barreling towards the earth and we don't know if shooting a missile at it will save us. Do we do nothing because asteroid missile research has not yet been peer reviewed? Or do we take our best guess based on the science we do have?