While you can probably think of multiple films that speculate asteroids as the ultimate threat to humanity's survival, it turns out there might be something to this innate fear. Asteroids can cause a lot of damage to the planet, and thousands of meteorites (which are fragments of asteroids) smack into the planet's surface each year.
✕ Remove Ads
Although NASA points out that it's only about once a year that a car-sized asteroid penetrates Earth's atmosphere -- and gets vaporized in a fireball before ever hitting the surface -- that doesn't mean asteroids aren't a real threat.
In fact, larger asteroids follow an unsettling pattern, suggesting that humans are right to explore ways to defend Earth against the massive space rocks. In what might be a surprising discovery, researchers have determined that a nuclear explosion could be Earth's salvation if an asteroid is due to hit.
Related
These Are (Still) The 12 Most Radioactive Places On Earth
When something at the nuclear power plant goes wrong, it goes REALLY wrong, resulting in some of the most radioactive places on earth.
A Study Suggests That A Nuclear Reaction Could Protect Earth From Massive Asteroids
A meteor in the night sky over Iceland
✕ Remove Ads
It might be something that only seems to happen in movies, but figuring out how to fight back against an impending asteroid impact is something scientists think about. Thus, it's also something they run experiments on, albeit at a smaller scale than, say, global annihilation. One specific study found that nuclear energy could be the key to ensuring an asteroid will miss Earth -- or be blown up altogether.
The study, titled "Simulation of asteroid deflection with a megajoule-class X-ray pulse" (Moore et al., 2024), published in Nature Physics, executed a "scaled asteroid intercept mission," and the results were promising enough that the report made headlines as soon as it was published.
Because, the research team from Sandia National Laboratories noted, "targets suitable for practice missions are scarce," the scientists created a simulation using an X-ray pulsed power device and "surrogate asteroidal material."
✕ Remove Ads
Related
What Happened During Earth's Last Mass Extinction?
How did Earth's last mass extinction unfold? Explore what led to it, what was lost, and how life ultimately found ways to evolve in a changed world.
Other researchers called the experiment "very impressive," according to Scientific American, particularly because previous experiments looked at different elements of asteroid combat. For one thing, prior experiments studied the schok waves of nuclear bombs and how they might disrupt the path of an asteroid due to gas expansion.
The nuclear reaction experiment by Moore and company instead looked at the X-rays and how those alone would impact an asteroid's trajectory. Of course, the study's test subjects were extraordinarily tiny; the material they shot at ("mock asteroids," says Scientific American) was the size of a coffee bean. Their composition was similar to actual asteroids, however, with the mock rocks being made of quartz and silica.
Are asteroids a true threat to life on Earth?
According to NASA, thousands of meteorites hit Earth each year, but larger asteroids hit less frequently. That said, the risk is not zero and is, in fact, very real.
✕ Remove Ads
"Every 2,000 years or so, a meteoroid the size of a football field hits Earth and causes significant damage to the area. Only once every few million years, an object large enough to threaten Earth's civilization comes along." -- NASA
There are many unbelievable events humans today won't live to see, but knowing asteroids are a looming threat to humanity might be what's spurring both our media on the subject and innovative research.
Of course, the true test will come down to how tests done in a laboratory compare to real-life scenarios where Earth's fate hangs in the balance.
How Effective Are Nuclear X-Rays Against Massive Asteroids?
✕ Remove Ads
While the small-scale nuclear X-ray experiment was promising, who's to say it will work on larger asteroids? Moore, a leading researcher in the study, stated that the technique used in his team's research could be scaled up. The goal might not be to vaporize an asteroid, but the technique would also work to throw the big rocks off course.
Related
8 Strangest Things Found On Google Earth In America
Is it a target? A secret message? Unearth the truth behind some of the strangest sights spotted on Google Earth across America!
Moore stated that the nuclear energy method could be used to defend Earth against asteroids up to about 2.48 miles (4 km) across. Other research teams are still exploring other methods of planetary defense, but Moore and his team's study is apparently groundbreaking.
A physicist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory pointed out that the research is one of the "first big blockbuster publications" that's trying to figure out how to deflect asteroids.
"Planetary defence is having a lot more time in the Sun." -- Mary Burkey, physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
✕ Remove Ads
Though the experiment was small-scale, it's already clear to humanity what nuclear power can do. After all, many places have been destroyed by nuclear disasters, with some sites even open for tours as of 2024.
Then again, various places destroyed by human-made disasters are not safe to enter -- like Chernobyl's nearby Pripyat, Ukraine.
Night sky with stars and meteors over Iceland
On the other hand, meteor crashes continue to baffle scientists, despite the evidence sticking around for hundreds of years. Plus, there are some complicating factors when it comes to using nuclear explosions as a means of planetary defense.
✕ Remove Ads
"Long-standing international legal restrictions, established to preserve nuclear stability and restraint on Earth, would be severely challenged by any nuclear anti-asteroid program." -- Arms Control Association
Actually using nuclear energy against an asteroid (or some other space threat) would be unprecedented, but at least we know now that it's possible!
References: Scientific American, NASA, Nature Physics, Arms Control Association