Scientists have suggested that employing nuclear devices could be a viable strategy for deflecting hazardous asteroids away from Earth. This conclusion stems from a novel study conducted by specialists at CERN. The findings from this international collaborative team were recently published in the esteemed scientific journal, Nature Communications.
Through their experimental procedures, the researchers determined that the application of nuclear forces might represent a more powerful means of altering an asteroid’s trajectory than previously estimated.
As part of the Fireball initiative, researchers from the University of Oxford utilized the HiRadMat facility, directing an intense proton beam to simulate the impact of a nuclear detonation. A specimen of the Campo del Cielo meteorite was subjected to 27 successive bursts of high-energy radiation.
The test results indicated that metallic-rich asteroids, when exposed to intense radiation, do not fragment but instead exhibit significantly increased structural integrity. Consequently, this suggests that the hazard of a space object breaking up into dangerous debris during a nuclear deflection attempt might be less probable than was once thought.
Nevertheless, the study’s authors emphasize that kinetic impactors, much like the method employed in the DART mission, remain the preferred method for planetary defense. However, the nuclear option is being kept in reserve as a last resort, specifically for scenarios involving the detection of a very large asteroid where insufficient time for a prolonged preparation phase exists.
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