Scientists Plan To Avoid Meteorite Collision By Nuclear Explosion In Space

Asteroid Bennu is a carbon-rich asteroid, which is 500 metres wide at its equator. It is believed that this asteroid contains organic molecules that are responsible for Earth’s formation. According to NASA, Bennu likely broke off from the much larger carbon-rich asteroid about 700 million to 2 billion years ago. The Space Agency of America recently obtained a sample of this asteroid. It was NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission and the operation was named as OSIRIS-REx. It was done to understand its properties and to prepare the precautionary steps if it collides with Earth. It is believed that if the collision of this meteorite takes place with Earth, then it will release 1200 megatons of energy. According to the reports, the researchers in America are planning on destroying these asteroids through nuclear bombs in space.

As per a New York Post report, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have prepared a system that will tell NASA about the possible collision of asteroids with Earth. Apart from this, it will also be able to deduce the size of the incoming object. Through this system, scientists can also decide if they can use a nuclear bomb on the asteroid in space which is a million miles away from Earth. The system will also tell whether such huge rocks can be successfully diverted in the other direction or not. This research has been published in the Planetary Science Journal.

Physicist Mary Burkey, head of the research team, said that if they had such a system, by which they would know months before the meteorite hits, then it would help them to carry out a nuclear attack. It will help them to stop the asteroid from millions of miles away. “We would then detonate the device and either deflect the asteroid, keeping it intact but providing a controlled push away from Earth, or we could disrupt the asteroid, breaking it up into small, fast-moving fragments that would also miss the planet,” added Marky Bukry in her statement, which is quoted on the website of LLNL.

Earlier on July 9, 1962, America had detonated a nuclear bomb in space. This was a response to a blast from the Soviet Union. The name of the operation was Operation Fishbowl, under which America had to detonate 5 atomic bombs. In this, the Starfish Prime atomic bomb was the most terrible explosion. It released a total of 1.4 megatons of energy. The purpose of these explosions was not to stop any meteorites.