Turns out, nuking an incoming asteroid could actually work...

[DGUtley]

Turns out, nuking an incoming asteroid could actually work...

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Encouraging results from a computer simulation point to the use of nuclear devices as a viable defense against Earth-threatening asteroids that suddenly appear out of the blue.
The Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory runs an asteroid impact simulation once every two years. The exercise from earlier this year was unique in that the fictional threatening asteroid, dubbed “2021 PDC,” was detected just six months before its scheduled meeting with Earth’s surface. It was deemed an insufficient amount of time to deploy a mitigation strategy, so the participants focused primarily on disaster response. It served as a rude reminder of our vulnerability to these undiscovered asteroids.

Ideally, we’d have a few years or even decades to mount a response, such as using the gravitational influence of bulky spacecraft to gently nudge an asteroid from its Earth-bound trajectory. Alternatively, we could use kinetic impactors to change an object’s path or a nuclear device to smash it into thousands of pieces. This latter strategy, known as disruption, is the kind of thing we’ve come to expect in mindless Hollywood films, but it could work if done decades in advance; over the years, the ensuing fragments would likely go on their own orbital journeys and no longer threaten Earth.





https://gizmodo.com/a-last-minute-nu...tm_source=digg

[Peter1469]

I wonder if they considered detonating a nuke just to the side of the asteroid to deflect its path rather than blow it up.

[stjames1_53]

Turns out, nuking an incoming asteroid could actually work...

Attachment 43395

Encouraging results from a computer simulation point to the use of nuclear devices as a viable defense against Earth-threatening asteroids that suddenly appear out of the blue.
The Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory runs an asteroid impact simulation once every two years. The exercise from earlier this year was unique in that the fictional threatening asteroid, dubbed “2021 PDC,” was detected just six months before its scheduled meeting with Earth’s surface. It was deemed an insufficient amount of time to deploy a mitigation strategy, so the participants focused primarily on disaster response. It served as a rude reminder of our vulnerability to these undiscovered asteroids.

Ideally, we’d have a few years or even decades to mount a response, such as using the gravitational influence of bulky spacecraft to gently nudge an asteroid from its Earth-bound trajectory. Alternatively, we could use kinetic impactors to change an object’s path or a nuclear device to smash it into thousands of pieces. This latter strategy, known as disruption, is the kind of thing we’ve come to expect in mindless Hollywood films, but it could work if done decades in advance; over the years, the ensuing fragments would likely go on their own orbital journeys and no longer threaten Earth.





https://gizmodo.com/a-last-minute-nu...tm_source=digg

brought to you courtesy of the same group crying about climate change. The debris fallout will still take out large areas.
But I suppose a footprint event is better than a total extinction event.

[stjames1_53]

I wonder if they considered detonating a nuke just to the side of the asteroid to deflect its path rather than blow it up.

It takes great minds to contemplate fluid dynamics of celestial mechanics............I'd hate to be the one that called it wrong....

[carolina73]

MIT says deflect

https://news.mit.edu/2020/how-deflec...d-mission-0219


If we take the Armageddon approach then who does this? Bruce Willis or now Captain Kirk?

[RMNIXON]

Blow Up or Deflect really depends on how close and what direction it is headed when hit.

Obviously a lot of large debris could be a major hazard as well. The small pieces will burn up however.

[stjames1_53]

MIT says deflect

https://news.mit.edu/2020/how-deflec...d-mission-0219


If we take the Armageddon approach then who does this? Bruce Willis or now Captain Kirk?

Cap't Joe Biden will lead the suicide charge

[carolina73]

Retargeting asteroid. A little to the east. A little to the South. Perfect.

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