A group of American scientists has discovered an innovative technique that indicates that a X-ray pulsegenerated by a nuclear detonation, could evaporate the surface of an asteroid and modify its course.
Although asteroid impacts on Earth are rare events, they have left an indelible mark on the history of our planet. One of the most famous was the one 1980s ago. 66 million yearswhich caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. That asteroid was approximately 10 kilometers in diameterHowever, much smaller bodies can also be dangerous, such as the 15 meter meteorite that exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013, causing more than 1,200 people were injured.
So far, several ideas have been proposed to deflect asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth. A recent example is the NASA’s DART missionwhich in 2022 deliberately crashed a ship against Dimorphosa small moon of an asteroid. This experiment demonstrated that A kinetic impact may be effective in protecting Earth, but it needs to be carried out years before the possible impact.
A new approach: nuclear explosions and X-rays
In a new study published in the journal Nature Physics This Monday, September 23, 2024, a team of the Sandia National Laboratories in the United Statesknown for their work in nuclear arsenal security, proposed a different technique. It involves the use of X-rays generated by a nuclear explosion to deflect asteroids.
Researchers studied how a massive pulse of radiation, released by a nuclear explosion, could vaporize the surface of an asteroid, heating it to tens of thousands of degrees. This would cause a rapid expansion of gases that would ultimately would modify the trajectory of the spatial body. “The vaporized material would be ejected in one direction, propelling the asteroid in the opposite direction,” explained Dr. Nathan Moore, lead author of the study. “It’s like the asteroid becomes its own rocket.”
Laboratory simulations
Moore and his team They conducted experiments in the laboratory to evaluate this ideausing X-rays directed at 12-millimeter asteroid models in vacuum conditions. In both cases, they observed that the X-rays heated the surface, creating a vapor cloud that propelled the models to speeds of more than 69 meters per second.
With these measurements, the scientists made simulations to scale up the method and concluded that near-Earth asteroids up to 4 kilometers in diameter could be deflected using this nuclear explosion-based technique.
While there are several theories about how to deflect asteroids, for Moore, the The advantage of using nuclear explosions lies in their enormous power.“They are the most effective at deflecting large asteroids in the shortest possible time,” said the researcher, who also highlighted that this approach could be crucial in an emergency situationwhen there is not enough time to act with other methods.
Source: Ambito
