Our Survival Might One Day Rely on Nuking a 'City Killer' Asteroid. Scientists Just Tested Whether It'll Work
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory conducted simulations testing the use of nuclear warheads to deflect or disrupt 'city-killer' asteroids. The study suggests that nuclear mitigation is a viable strategy for planetary defense.
Why it matters
Developing effective planetary defense mechanisms is critical for long-term human survival against potential asteroid impacts.
Add ScienceAlert on Google (Victor Habbick Visions/Science Photo Library/Getty Images) If an asteroid above a certain size ever gets close enough to Earth, humanity may be in serious trouble.
Even a relatively small space rock – around the size of a football field – would be large enough to completely destroy a city.
Because some are so dark and non-reflective, asteroids can be hard to spot, too, and it's not like we can just put up a shield that will gently deflect asteroids away.
So how do we stop an asteroid from wreaking destruction on Earth? Well, one potential method that sounds straight out of science fiction but could actually work would be to wallop it with the most powerful weapon humanity has ever devised – a nuclear warhead .
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