US EditionExperts Propose Nuking An Asteroid That Could Wreak Havoc If It Strikes The Moon
NASA aims to prevent a 4% chance of Asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting the Moon in 2032 to avoid debris risks to satellites and the International Space Station.
- On December 22, 2032, NASA researchers proposed launching a one-megaton nuclear bomb to break or vaporize asteroid 2024 YR4 before it hits the lunar surface.
- With the window closing as early as 2028, researchers warn a reconnaissance mission is needed before deciding on deflection to prevent debris threatening satellites and the ISS.
- Measured mass estimates range between 51 and 711 million kg for asteroid 2024 YR4, whose size estimates are between 200 and 300 feet, with impact probability 4%.
- Experts warn a near-moon detonation could disrupt satellite infrastructure and generate hazardous debris, recalling Starfish Prime 1962 test’s massive electronic disruptions.
- A paper says a mission could launch between 2029 and late 2031, but NASA and collaborating researchers warn designing a spacecraft by 2028 is doable but risky and urge reconnaissance missions.
14 Articles
14 Articles
NASA Might Have to Nuke an Asteroid To Save the Moon. Seriously.
Long-time VICE readers might remember how I chronicled every one of Asteroid 2024 YR4’s moves. You might better remember it as the asteroid that definitely looked like it was going to smash into us… until it didn’t. Well, now it looks like it’s going to hit the moon, which presents its own set of problems. Once thought to have a 3 percent chance of hitting Earth, it now has a 4 percent chance of hitting the moon in December 2032. That would stil…
Experts Propose Nuking An Asteroid That Could Wreak Havoc If It Strikes The Moon
Earth and asteroid Anyone who’s seen Armageddon is familiar with the concept of using a nuclear weapon on an asteroid that has the potential to trigger a catastrophic event. That method has never been tested in real life, but that could change in the not-so-distant future thanks to a space rock that’s making its way toward our part of the solar system. It’s been more than 65 million years since an asteroid around six miles wide crashed into what…
An asteroid threatens to collide with the Moon in 2032, with consequences on the Earth, and more particularly on space stations. If deviation is difficult to imagine, some...
The asteroid YR4 has a low chance of crashing on the Moon by 2032, but absolutely none to end up on Earth. However, scientists still think of a scenario in which it would be possible to detonate it with a nuclear bomb. But why? There was Bruce Willis and his crew.
Mad about Science: Civilization killers » Sandpoint Reader
By Brenden BobbyReader Columnist I am a ’90s dinosaur kid. That means for a third of my life, one thing in the world really scared me: planet-killing asteroids. In an age before the terror attacks of 9/11 but after the fall of the Soviet Union, there was one unifying fear in the American cultural zeitgeist and that was civilization-ending asteroids. They were mysterious, faceless boogeymen from the stars that could strike at any moment and lay w…
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