NASA plans to blast “planet killer” asteroids with a 1,000-strong army of spacecraft – or even a nuke.
To deflect a huge “planet killer”, over 1,000 spacecraft would have to be launched from Earth.
While he buries the bomb into the rock, Nasa would look to detonate the nuke a few hundred feet away, aerospace engineer Brent Barbee told Live Science.
While no known “planet killer” currently poses a threat, astronomers continue to monitor the skies for near-Earth objects and potential collisions.
Over 1,000ft wide, the space rock is the sized of a cruise liner and could wipe out a whole city if it crashed into planet Earth.
NASA intends to use a nuclear bomb or a space fleet of 1,000 ships to destroy “planet killer” asteroids.
The astronauts at the space agency have been testing methods to deflect a deadly asteroid and rescue the planet while covertly modeling an out-of-sea response.
NEO and Planetary Defense National Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan was published by NASA in 2023.
A Near-Earth Object (NEO) that might cause “global devastation” is addressed in detail in the report, and blasting them with spaceships or even nuclear weapons is one solution suggested.
Scientists think thousands of asteroids are still hidden in the solar system, even though the end-of-the-world scenario is unlikely because there won’t be any space rocks posing a threat for the next 100 years.
Many “planet killer” asteroids, which are over a mile wide and have the potential to cause a global extinction event, may be hiding in space, according to their predictions.
NASA has been testing kinetic impactors—rapidly accelerating spacecraft that would ram the massive rock and deflect it—as part of its contingency plan.
Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, a $325 million mission, tested the technique in September 2022.
As it circled the larger asteroid Didymos, the speeding rocket “Hera” was successfully launched at the Dimorphos rock cluster, which is 580 feet wide.
Although they didn’t pose a threat to Earth, the two space rocks were slowed down by half a minute by the first-ever impact to change an asteroid’s path.
Experts have cautioned that there is a chance that the impact will cause fragments to break off and move in an unpredictable manner, which could cause further issues.
It would take the simultaneous firing of almost 100 rockets to move a larger target, about 2,000 feet wide, or three times the size of Dimorphos.
More than 1,000 spacecraft would need to be launched from Earth in order to thwart a massive “planet killer.”.
A GO NUCLEAR STUFF.
The second choice involves going nuclear and is reminiscent of a scene from the popular movie Armageddon.
In the Billy Bob Thornton movie, the protagonist is dispatched to space with a nuclear bomb to demolish an asteroid that is headed straight for Earth.
Brent Barbee, an aerospace engineer, told Live Science that while he buries the bomb into the rock, NASA would aim to explode the nuclear bomb a few hundred feet away.
The weapon would be mounted on a launch vehicle and then transported to the asteroid by a tiny spacecraft.
The spacecraft might then orbit the planet-killer rock cluster for months or even years until a perfect approach point was found to send it off course and into oblivion, or it could explode nearby.
A study found that a nuclear bomb 200 times more powerful than the “Little Boy” bomb dropped on Hiroshima would be required to destroy a 650-foot asteroid.
Barbee stated: “Our analysis revealed that even the 1.5-kilometer-sized asteroid could be deflected by a single nuclear explosive device of the proper size.
It goes without saying that space is a vacuum. Thus, neither a large pressure wave nor any of the thermal consequences of a terrestrial detonation occur.
“You are exposed to a great deal of radiation at once. “. .
The outer layer of the asteroid would be vaporized by the radiation, and whatever material that spewed out would give the space rock an extra push and destroy any smaller, more unpredictable pieces that broke off.
According to a NASA report, there is a chance that the discovery of an object, no matter how small, within a few months to years of impact, or an object traveling at a high speed could lead to a situation where using a nuclear explosive device (NED) would be the only way to deflect or disrupt the impactor in time to prevent catastrophic effects on Earth. “. .
A nuclear explosion would also be successful in deflecting smaller asteroids, about 165 feet in width, that are dubbed “city-killer sized.”.
The key to both strategies is timing: scientists have more time to act if they identify a deadly asteroid years before it hits Earth.
NASA engineer Brent says that since developing space missions can take years, it is essential to charter aircraft and keep an eye on the skies.
Some “planet killers” have orbits that cross Earth’s path with the Sun, but the majority are located in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars.
They have the capacity to release enormous amounts of kinetic energy and travel at speeds of over 45,000 miles per hour.
Seismic waves, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions would all be set off, causing extreme heat and launching debris into the atmosphere as immediate effects.
The collision of space rocks would cause a “impact winter,” in which the sun would be blocked by sulphur gas, dust, and ash, resulting in freezing temperatures and failed crops.
With social unrest, economic collapse, and conflict, the world would descend into anarchy.
The Chicxulub asteroid, which is the size of an entire city, collided with Earth more than 66 million years ago and is thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs.
Astronomers continue to scan the skies for possible collisions and near-Earth objects, even though there isn’t a known “planet killer” at this time.
In April, specialists participated in a tabletop simulation of an asteroid strike at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
In the simulation, astronomers find an asteroid that has a 72% chance of striking Earth within the next 14 years, destroying 10 million people’s lives and eradicating Dallas, Washington, D.C., Madrid, and Algeria.
It was estimated in 2004 that an asteroid named Apophis, named after the Egyptian god of chaos, would pass close to Earth in 2029 and 2036, entering the “danger zone.”.
If the space rock collided with Earth, it could destroy an entire city because it is over 1,000 feet wide and the size of a cruise ship.
The European Space Agency (ESA) will continue to monitor Apophis closely even though it is now estimated that the asteroid will miss Earth by nearly 20,000 miles.
The European Space Agency (ESA) intends to launch RAMSES, short for Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety, as part of a mission to closely observe the asteroid.
