GLOBAL EYE
Nuking an asteroid could save Earth from destruction
SPACE
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WORDS BEN TURNER
An illustration showing an asteroid heading towards Earth
A nuclear bomb could save Earth from a catastrophic asteroid
impact, according to a first-of-itskind laboratory study. The new
experiment, conducted using the world’s most powerful laboratory radiation source, demonstrated that detonating a coordinated nuclear strike close to an asteroid would produce enough force to deflect it from a fatal collision with our planet. Yet the explosion wouldn’t be doing the heavy-lifting – rather the powerful burst of X-rays made by the blast. “To most people, the danger from asteroids seems remote,” said Nathan Moore, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories. “But our planet is hit by BB-sized asteroids every day. We call them shooting stars. We don’t want to wait for a large asteroid to show up and then scramble for the right method to deflect it.”