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Hollywood Was Right: Asteroid Nuke Deflection Possible
4 Feb
Summary
- New simulation suggests nuking asteroids is viable for defense.
- Asteroid material surprisingly strengthens under nuclear impact.
- Nuclear deflection offers hope for large threats with short warning.
Hollywood's 1998 film 'Armageddon' may have been scientifically inaccurate in many aspects, but it got one crucial detail right: the potential to use nuclear technology to deflect an asteroid. New research, utilizing CERN's Super Proton Synchrotron, subjected a meteorite fragment to intense proton bursts simulating a nuclear explosion.
The study, a collaboration with the Outer Solar System Company (OuSoCo), revealed that metal-rich asteroid material surprisingly strengthened by a factor of 2.5 under simulated nuclear impact, rather than breaking apart. This resilience means a precisely timed nuclear detonation could nudge an asteroid off its Earth-bound trajectory without creating dangerous shrapnel.
This finding is significant for planetary defense, offering a potential solution for large asteroids or threats with limited warning. While NASA and ESA are also developing kinetic impactor methods, nuclear deflection is considered by experts as a critical option for scenarios where early detection is not possible.
Further research is planned to test this effect on different types of asteroids. Scientists aim to investigate materials like pallasites, which contain embedded crystals, to better understand the full scope of nuclear deflection capabilities.
