Our Survival Might One Day Rely on Nuking a ‘City Killer’ Asteroid. Scientists Just Tested Whether It’ll Work
Things got weird.
“`html
Researchers have conducted computer simulations to test whether a nuclear weapon could effectively deflect a dangerous asteroid heading toward Earth. Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory modeled what would happen if a 1-megaton nuclear device were detonated near a 160-meter asteroid – large enough to destroy an entire city. The findings suggest that such a strategy could actually succeed, though not through the mechanism most people might imagine.
Rather than relying on a shockwave to push the asteroid away, the nuclear detonation would generate intense X-rays that could vaporize the asteroid’s surface. This vaporized material would escape into space, creating momentum that could alter the asteroid’s trajectory. Additionally, the X-ray energy would send shock waves through the asteroid itself, potentially fracturing and weakening it from within – similar to how a comet’s material can affect its spin through ejection.
The team tested three different scenarios using realistic asteroid properties based on Bennu, which NASA explored in 2020. In the most effective simulation, detonating the weapon 10 meters above the surface caused nearly 98 percent of the asteroid’s material to become damaged, with roughly 97 percent moving fast enough to escape the asteroid’s gravitational pull entirely. The results indicate that nuclear mitigation could serve as a viable planetary defense strategy in emergency situations.
“`
Originally reported by Sciencealert →
About the Author
