Pentagon experts believe that the use of nuclear weapons to protect our planet from an asteroid impact may be up to 100 times more effective than the use of other non-nuclear methods.
Although such a scenario is well known and obvious to all of us, no one was sure if such a method would be effective, because hitting the asteroid with a nuclear warhead could lead to its disintegration into many parts, which will continue to fly in the original direction.
This would mean that instead of one rock, hundreds or even thousands of debris could hit the Earth's surface, which would do much more damage than one small asteroid. NASA's recent detonation of the kinetic charge on the asteroid Bennu clearly showed that the threat of the asteroid collapsing and at the same time
the lack of change in its flight trajectory is enormous.
Therefore, scientists propose a slightly different solution, but the use of nuclear weapons will still be an option: detonating a nuclear charge close to the asteroid to focus on one of its parts.
The rock material on the surface would melt almost immediately.
This small amount of superheated material would then expand, generating a shockwave, a sharp increase in pressure that would spread throughout the object.
Scientists are sure that such a phenomenon will result in a deviation of the trajectory of the cosmic rock and eventually it will bypass the Earth. The Pentagon intends to test it in practice in the 1920s. For now, preparations for the launch of the DART mission are in full swing, during which a simulated nuclear impact will occur in
asteroid.
Thanks to this mission, scientists will obtain further data that will allow them to build an appropriate nuclear charge for actual tests in space.