NASA reckons the Yellowstone super volcano is a larger threat to life on Earth than any asteroid, mega-tsunami, or potential alien invasion.
To keep you informed, the Wyoming-based volcano is terrifyingly massive, and if it explodes then we're facing an apocalyptic scenario, instigating a nuclear winter and human extinction through starvation.
NASA was so worried about this outcome, it plans to avoid a volcanic future by drilling into the magma chamber and cooling the whole thing down.
The way NASA will do this is by piercing a six-mile hole into the volcano and running water into it. This would be pumped through at high-pressure, entering the crust at outdoor temperatures, getting heated to 662f inside, and then returning to the surface.
Of course, this technically complex operation doesn't come without its dangers. Brian Wilcox of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said: "The most important thing with this is to do no harm.
"If you drill into the top of the magma chamber and try and cool it from there, this would be very risky. This could make the cap over the magma chamber more brittle and prone to fracture. And you might trigger the release of harmful volatile gases in the magma at the top of the chamber, which would otherwise not be released."
You might ask why NASA would undertake such a task, but as the National Geographic points out, the agency is preparing for the worst and trying to prevent that from happening.
The hope is to avoid the drill from touching the magma, and instead keep it sitting above, remaining in the hydrothermal fluids. By adding water to the fluids, NASA will cool down the volcano's heat significantly.
It's an expensive undertaking, but then if you're talking about the future of humanity, it seems like a price worth paying.
