Simulations Explore Nuclear Mitigation of Asteroid Threats
Researchers found 98% of asteroid material was damaged in one simulation, suggesting a nuclear blast could disrupt a threat before impact.
- Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States are using Spheral simulation code to model how nuclear devices could disrupt asteroids threatening Earth.
- While NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test demonstrated kinetic-impact deflection on asteroid Dimorphos in 2022, nuclear mitigation offers an alternative emergency option for larger objects or shorter warning times.
- The team compared more than 1,500 one-dimensional Spheral simulations with Ares code results, confirming close agreement that validated the approach for complex 3D disruption scenarios.
- Simulations involving an irregularly shaped asteroid roughly 160 meters across showed about 98% of material became fully damaged, with roughly 97% reaching escape velocity and moving in opposite directions.
- Isaiah Santistevan, who led the study, noted that modeling material motion in three dimensions is critical for evaluating planetary defense options and that extensive asteroid damage with rapid material escape is encouraging.
21 Articles
21 Articles
Scientists Simulate Asteroid Response to Nuclear Device Detonation
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a modeling tool to assess how a nuclear device might be used to defend Earth against a catastrophic asteroid impact, according to a report published by Interesting Engineering. The research is a theoretical exercise in planetary defense. No specific asteroid is currently identified as requiring nuclear deflection, and officials said the study was not prompted by an immediate th…
Astrophysics are developing another plan to save the Earth, scientists have modeled how a nuclear explosion can alter or destroy the trajectory of a dangerous asteroid. LLNL researchers have created 3D simulations that demonstrate how X-ray radiation results in the exploding and fragmentation of the space body. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to Interesting Engineering. When a regular taran does not help? Unlike most global threat…
Earth has always been struck by celestial bodies, and our planet's surface is littered with craters, confirming that some of these objects were quite large. To prevent a collision between a large asteroid and the Blue Planet, scientists are constantly monitoring the sky and analyzing ways to defend the planet. One of these methods involves the use of nuclear weapons.
Wishful thinking: Simulations explore nuclear mitigation of...
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are developing three-dimensional simulations to examine how a nuclear device could be used to deflect or potentially disrupt an asteroid threatening Earth. The work, published recently in The Planetary Science Journal, uses LLNL's Spheral simulation code to more accurately model how an asteroid might respond when X-rays from a nuclear device detonated near its surface rapidly heat and vap…
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