MIT
Powerful X-ray pulse from a nuclear explosion cloud protect us from Asteroids.
Using nuclear weapons to deflect killer asteroids has long been a concept in science fiction. However, an experiment at Sandia National Laboratories has brought that concept closer to reality.
Physicist Nathan Moore and his team at Sandia in Albuquerque, New Mexico, made the simulation of asteroid deflection with an X-ray pulse from a dense argon plasma generated at the Z machine,
a pulsed power device at Sandia National Laboratories.
While the lab tests involved small chips just half an inch (1.2 cm) wide, computer models indicate the method could work on a much larger scale.
According to the team’s calculations, this technique could deflect asteroids up to 2.7 miles (4.4 km) across, marking a significant advance in planetary defense.
The team explains:
“More detailed models, such as the radiation-hydrodynamic model illustrated here and those in other studies can be tested against experimental data acquired with this technique and used to refine the predictions for different asteroid intercept missions.”
source Nature Physics
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