Technologue.id, Jakarta – Scientists anticipate asteroids that might be dangerous to Earth. As is known, asteroids have long been studied by scientists, even the United States Space Agency (NASA) classifies asteroids from the Main Asteroid Belt to Near-Earth Asteroids.
If the Main Asteroid Belt orbits within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, then Near-Earth Asteroids are asteroids that are under observation because they have orbits close to Earth.
Scientists are alert to the possibility that asteroids could have a damaging impact on Earth and life on it. Therefore, research was carried out to observe asteroids and the idea of destroying these space objects.
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A group of researchers looked more deeply into the implications and consequences of using nuclear explosions on asteroids, and they said it might work, as long as we use the right techniques, quoted from Bgr.
One of the reasons why many people warn against the use of nuclear weapons to repel asteroids is the fact that destroying a large asteroid would simply produce a bunch of smaller pieces, thus causing the Earth to be bombarded by many asteroids. To understand how effective or harmful this is, scientists turned to simulations.
The simulation uses an explosion technique we call nuclear ablation, and according to the researchers, this technique could generate enough thrust to act as a proper nuclear deterrent for asteroids. Not only would this partially vaporize the asteroid, but the explosive thrust and change in velocity could help propel the asteroid onto a new path.
The simulation model is easy to configure, and the researchers designed it to incorporate a wide range of initial conditions, allowing them to simulate the types of asteroids that scientists have been able to study closely.
“If we had enough warning time, we could potentially launch a nuclear device, sending it millions of miles away to an Earth-bound asteroid,” explained researcher Mary Burkey of LLNL.
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“We would then detonate the device and deflect the asteroid, keeping it intact but providing a controlled thrust from Earth, or we could disrupt the asteroid, breaking it into small, fast-moving fragments that would also miss the planet,” he explained.
A new paper on a possible nuclear asteroid deterrent has been published in The Planetary Science Journal. While this could prove useful, the scientists note that predicting the effectiveness of nuclear blasts to deflect asteroids relies heavily on accurate Multiphysics simulations, meaning researchers need a lot of data about the asteroids they want to target.
2023-12-25 11:09:55
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