A lot of scientists dream of making a discovery that will make an impact. Planetary scientist Don Yeomans is not one of them.

Yeomans manages the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which means he spends his days monitoring the thousands of asteroids and comets swirling around the solar system, making sure that none of the bigger ones are on a collision course with Earth. He and his team play a "Men in Black" type of role, constantly finding, assessing and ruling out threats to the planet from outer space.

The importance of Yeomans' work is especially in the spotlight Friday, when an asteroid about half the length of a football field is expected to pass relatively close to Earth -- closer than many of our orbiting communications satellites -- going roughly eight times as fast as a speeding bullet.

Yeomans and his team were among those who helped forecast this event, and he has assured us that there's no chance the asteroid will impact the Earth.

CNN Light Years recently spoke with him about his work and how it might impact -- not literally -- humankind's efforts in space in the future. Below is an edited transcript of this interview, conducted via e-mail.

CNN: What made you want to get into astronomy?

Yeomans: I had a particularly engaging science teacher at Middlebury College in Vermont and he turned me on to astronomy and I decided to go to grad school at the University of Maryland as a result. The topic of comets and asteroids appealed to me so I zeroed in on that and, in particular, their motions, where they are and where they're going to be.

CNN: What's a normal day at work for you?

Yeomans: My work day usually begins with a check of our automatic monitoring systems to see if any new near-Earth objects have been discovered and whether or not one of them will make a close Earth approach in the near future. We closely interact with the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the radar astronomers and a small army of amateur and professional astronomers to make sure future close-Earth approaches of asteroids and comets are observed with as many techniques and tools as possible.

CNN: In addition to monitoring surrounding near-Earth objects for potential threats, why else is it important for us to know more about asteroids and comets?

Yeomans: Near-Earth objects are important for a number of reasons beyond the threat issue. They are the leftover bits and pieces from the solar system formation process so if we wish to understand the chemical and thermal environment under which our solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago, then we'd like to study near-Earth objects since they have not changed much since this formation process.

These objects likely brought to the early Earth much of the water and carbon-based materials that allowed life to form more than 3.5 billion years ago and subsequent impacts allowed only the most adaptable species -- like mammals -- to evolve further. We humans may well exist atop the food chain as a result of near-Earth objects.

Finally, near-Earth objects may one day provide the mineral and metal resources for interplanetary structures. In addition, water resources can be extracted from hydrated minerals in some asteroids. The water, in turn, can be broken down into oxygen and hydrogen, the most efficient form of rocket fuel.

One day, near-Earth objects may serve as the fueling stations and watering holes for interplanetary travel.

CNN: This Friday, your team has announced that a relatively large asteroid is going to pass quite close to Earth. Scientists are going to be 'pinging' it with radar -- what do you hope to learn from observing this event?

Yeomans: [The asteroid] 2012 DA14 is approximately 45 meters in diameter and will pass within 17,200 miles above the Earth's surface on Friday. Shortly after the close approach, the two planetary radars will observe this object to provide precise position and velocity information for orbit improvement. The radar data can also provide information on the asteroid's rotation characteristics, its shape and size; and the radars can check for any small moons.

CNN: If you were to discover that a near-Earth object was going to or likely to make a significant impact -- that is, cause significant damage or threaten human life -- what would you do?

Yeomans: The three most important goals for mitigating an Earth-threatening asteroid would be to find it early, find it early and find it early. That is NASA's goal. With enough time, the threatening asteroid could be deflected with a number of techniques.

To my mind, the simplest, least complex and, hence, best technique for deflection would use an impacting massive spacecraft carried out well in advance of the predicted [Earth] impact. The impacting spacecraft would slightly alter the asteroid's orbit period so that in 10 or 20 years or so when the asteroid was predicted to impact Earth, it would miss by a wide margin.

We actually had an Earth impact in October of 2008 when a 4-meter-sized asteroid, 2008 TC3, caused an air blast over northern Sudan. The object was discovered less than a day prior to impact. Thanks to many amateur and professional astronomers, hundreds of additional observations were provided and we worked hard to improve the orbit for this object.