But then you should compare to other ways how to minimize that risk. Multiple lifetimes of trying to estabilish a self-sustaining colony on Mars sounds more dif

But then you should compare to other ways how to minimize that risk. Multiple lifetimes of trying to estabilish a self-sustaining colony on Mars sounds more difficult than mapping all rocks in solar system larger than ~ 10km in diameter, monitoring their orbits and developing a technology to nudge them away/break them down. And it's also something that sci-fi nerds would enjoy. EDIT: it seems that we're quite well on our way to the first step, there are about 1000 near Earth asteroids larger than 1km, much less than previously thought https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aa8036#ajaa8036s4 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aa8036#...