Space & Astronomy

Nukes could be used to destroy asteroids

By T.K. Randall
December 22, 2014 ·  52 comments

Asteroids pose a constant risk to us here on Earth. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech For years campaigners have been attempting to encourage world leaders to decommission all of their nuclear warheads, a move that would presumably help to establish peace, yet there is one threat to our civilization that might warrant keeping some of them around.

New research at Los Alamos, the government's space research center in Mexico, has been attempting to determine the best way to either destroy or deflect an incoming space rock."The goal is to study the effectiveness of using a nuclear explosive to alter the orbit, or destroy, a potentially harmful object," said Robert Weaver in a report for the American Geophysical Union.

The study follows on from the recent realization that even relatively small asteroids can still have a devastating effect on our planet, especially if one happens to hit a major metropolitan area.

"Because we don't know where or when the next major impact will occur, the only thing preventing a catastrophe from a 'city-killer' sized asteroid has been blind luck," said former astronaut Ed Lu.

Source: IB Times | Comments (52)

Tags: Asteroid, Earth, Nuke