US EditionNASA Considers Nuclear Weapons to Stop Asteroid Threatening Moon
NASA and partners consider nuclear disruption or deflection to prevent a lunar impact by asteroid 2024 YR4, which could increase Earth-orbit micrometeoroids by 1,000 times, researchers say.
- New research posted to the arXiv preprint paper finds Asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 4% chance of hitting the Moon in December 2032, and researchers from NASA and other U.S. institutions favor destroying it.
- Mass calculations show Asteroid 2024 YR4 is about 60 m wide but mass estimates range from 74 million pounds to 2 billion pounds, so researchers propose a 2028 reconnaissance mission.
- Researchers narrow options to two choices: deflection, deemed impractical, and destruction via explosive detonation, which risks creating debris that endangers low-Earth orbit assets including the International Space Station.
- Researchers emphasize narrow launch windows: kinetic robust disruption needs five to seven years development while nuclear disruption launch window runs late 2029–late 2031, and political constraints in the White House 2026 budget proposal may affect decisions.
- Scientists caution that a miscalculation could cause potential trajectory errors leading toward Earth, while the paper calculates a 1 megaton nuclear device could disrupt 2024 YR4 using the current nuclear arsenal.
17 Articles
17 Articles
We could nuke 'city killer' asteroid 2024 YR4 before it hits the moon — if we act fast, new study warns
The potential 'city killer' asteroid 2024 YR4 has a small chance of hitting the moon in 2032. In a new paper, scientists probe the logistics of destroying it — possibly with nuclear weapons — before it comes too close.
Nuclear impact: Scientists say NASA should blow up asteroid headed for moon
Researchers, including some from NASA, say the best option to stop an asteroid with a 4% chance of smashing into the moon and a .00081% chance of slamming into Earth may be to nuke it. Earlier this year, the asteroid, dubbed 2024 YR4, made Straight Arrow News headlines as its odds of hitting Earth rose to the highest on record before plummeting to a tiny fraction of a percent. Still, astrophysicists are concerned that a potential collision with…
The asteroid 2024 YR4 could hit the moon and hurl boulders to the earth. Researchers are now planning something that was previously only in films.
Asteroid 2024 YR4 currently has 4% chances of colliding with Lua within about seven years. NASA astronomers are already studying ways to avoid a potential impact....
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