Push Admin

Direct impact or nuclear weapons? How to save Earth from an asteroid

Article (news)

Issam Ahmed, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="A placard hangs on the wall during the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Technology Media Workshop Telecon Briefing and tour at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, on September 12, 2022, ahead of the September 26 project test mission. Jim Watson, AFP" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/afp/09/27/20220927-dart-afp.jpg"/><figcaption>A placard hangs on the wall during the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Technology Media Workshop Telecon Briefing and tour at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, on September 12, 2022, ahead of the September 26 project test mission. <em>Jim Watson, AFP</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>NASA&#x27;s <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/09/23/22/nasa-gears-up-to-deflect-asteroid-in-key-test-of-planetary-defense" target="_blank">DART mission</a> to test deflecting an asteroid using &quot;kinetic impact&quot; with a spaceship is just one way to defend planet Earth from an approaching object – and for now, the only method possible with current technology.</p><p>The operation is like playing billiards in space, using Newton&#x27;s laws of motion to guide us. </p><p>If an asteroid threat to Earth were real, a mission might need to be launched a year or two in advance to take on a small asteroid, or decades ahead of projected impact for larger objects hundreds of kilometers in diameter that could prove catastrophic to the planet. </p><p>Or, a larger object might require hits with multiple spacecraft.</p><p>&quot;This demonstration will start to add tools to our toolbox of methods that could be used in the future,&quot; said Lindley Johnson, NASA&#x27;s planetary defense office, in a recent briefing.</p><p>Other proposed ideas have included a futuristic-sounding &quot;gravity tractor,&quot; or a mission to blow up the hypothetical object with a nuclear weapon – the method preferred by Hollywood.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/09/27/22/nasa-gears-up-to-deflect-asteroid-in-key-test">NASA gears up to deflect asteroid in key test</a></li></ul><div><strong>- Gravity tractor - </strong></div><p>Should an approaching object be detected early – years or decades before it would hit Earth – a spaceship could be sent to fly alongside it for long enough to divert its path via using the ship&#x27;s gravitational pull, creating a so-called gravity tractor.</p><p>This method &quot;has the virtue that the method of moving the asteroid is totally well understood – it&#x27;s gravity and we know how gravity works,&quot; Tom Statler, a DART program scientist at NASA said at a briefing last November when DART launched.</p><p>The mass of the spacecraft however would be a limiting factor -- and gravity tractors would be less effective for asteroids more than 500 meters in diameter, which are the very ones that pose the greatest threat. </p><p>In a 2017 paper, NASA engineers proposed a way to overcome this snag: by having the spacecraft scoop material from the asteroid to enhance its own mass, and thus, gravity.</p><p>But none of these concepts have been tried, and would need decades to build, launch and test.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/04/22/asteroid-named-after-filipino-amateur-astronomer">Asteroid named after Filipino amateur astronomer</a></li></ul><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1841719" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><div><strong>- Nuclear detonation - </strong></div><p>Another option: launching nuclear explosives to redirect or destroy an asteroid. </p><p>&quot;This may be the only strategy that would be effective for the largest and most dangerous &#x27;planet-killer&#x27; asteroids (more than one kilometer in diameter),&quot; a NASA article on the subject says, adding such a strike might be useful as a &quot;last resort&quot; in case the other methods fail.</p><p>But these weapons are geopolitically controversial and technically banned from use in outer space.</p><p>Lori Glaze, NASA&#x27;s planetary science division director said in a 2021 briefing that the agency believed the best way to deploy the weapons would be at a distance from an asteroid, in order to impart force on the object without blowing it into smaller pieces that could then multiply the threat to Earth.</p><p>A 2018 paper published in the &quot;Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics&quot; by Russian scientists looked at the direct detonation scenario.</p><p>E. Yu. Aristova and colleagues built miniature asteroid models and blasted them with lasers. Their experiments showed that blowing up a 200-meter asteroid would require a bomb 200 times as powerful as the one that exploded over Hiroshima in 1945. </p><p>They also said it would be most effective to drill into the asteroid, bury the bomb, then blow it up – just like in the movie Armageddon.</p>

Should an approaching object be detected early, a spaceship could be sent to fly alongside it for long enough to divert its path.

Direct impact or nuclear weapons? How to save Earth from an asteroid

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

Traffic

Manila

Horoscope

Spotlight

Direct impact or nuclear weapons? How to save Earth from an asteroid

Issam Ahmed,

Agence France-Presse

Published Sep 27, 2022 06:33 AM PHT

Read More:

NASA DART mission

asteroid

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.