How great is the danger of Earth colliding with an asteroid? And what could we do if we found that an asteroid crossing the Earth's orbit, one of the more than 8,000 known Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), is on a collision course with our cosmic home? Even though there is no occasion to worry at the moment, these questions are nevertheless addressed by the NEO-Shield project which, led by DLR, unites 13 partners from research and industry. It is, for example, quite a realistic idea to change the trajectory of such an asteroid just a little – NEO-Shield is looking for options in this regard. The initiative is being funded by the European Union for a period of three and a half years.