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"In WWII, they had a saying that there are no atheists in foxholes. I think the modern equivalent of that is that there are no jaded, bored people in the high-tech industry, in the land of really good hardcore geeks."
- Neal Stephenson

Meteorite Deflector  
  A means of pushing aside asteroids that get in the path of your space ship.  

Probably the earliest use of the term "meteorite deflector" in science fiction, but not the first use of "deflector" (see below).

By evening Chick and Flynn were firm friends; they were talking about reaction-motors, meteorite deflectors, three-dimensional sextants, and such things with a fondness that only the two of them felt.
Technovelgy from On Board the Martian Liner, by Miles J. Breuer.
Published by Amazing Stories in 1931
Additional resources -

Another early quote, this one from Murray Leinster's The Ethical Equations (1945):

The blasters are those ravening beams of destruction which take care of recalcitrant meteorites in a spaceship's course when the deflectors can't handle them.

Compare to the deflector shields in George Lucas' Star Wars. Also, compare to the idea of a meteor-spotting radar from George O. Smith's 1943 short story Recoil.

See deflector from Islands in the Air (1929) by Morrow.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from On Board the Martian Liner
  More Ideas and Technology by Miles J. Breuer
  Tech news articles related to On Board the Martian Liner
  Tech news articles related to works by Miles J. Breuer

Meteorite Deflector-related news articles:
  - NEOShield Asteroid Deflector Project Funded By EU
  - Asteroid Deflection With DART
  - Johns Hopkins Says Asteroid Deflection Will Be Difficult
  - How Can We Block An Asteroid?

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