Nuclear Weapons Against Asteroids?
by Nuclear weapons are only protecting Earth from asteroids, say scientists.
Prior to a possible apocalyptic Earth collision with a large asteroid, according to scientists humanity in fact, the only possible defense: nuclear weapons. Despite various other proposals remain under server Space.com missiles with nuclear warheads only solution for deployment in the relatively limited time. It will, however, the possibility of very uncertain, because it probably never dare to try.
Unpopular, but the only solution Dearborn believes that only a nuclear explosion develops enough power to prove to distract from the asteroid collision path with the country and prevent a crash that could wipe out the dominant life form. The country has experienced a similar crash. The last major collision was probably the main cause of extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years. “If he goes on a really big asteroid and we’ll know about it only a few years ahead, a nuclear explosion is probably the only thing we can do,” agrees David Morrison, of Dearborn, who led the NASA research on the possible consequences of collisions with Earth asteroids and comets. On the other hand, however, Morrison believes that if a large asteroid only a mile in diameter, and the warning should come with more předstihem10 to 20 years, then it might not reach for nuclear weapons and would have sought another solution.But in this case was mainly an attempt to brute force – a non-nuclear ballistic missile attack, or missiles that would object thrown from the collision path with Earth. But nobody can ensure the reliability of the methods outlined, especially when the public has an aversion to nuclear weapons and no one probably will not allow because of the risks and the possible consequences of particular nuclear test method. However Dearborn points out that in his view there is no other way in a vacuum with minimal gravity deviate quite rapidly flying body, such as an asteroid with a diameter of one kilometer.
Efficient transport of enormous energy, “with a nuclear warhead get (the asteroid), huge amounts of energy through the transfer of small amounts of material,” explains the benefits of nuclear defense Dearborn. In his computer simulations, for turning around an asteroid with a diameter of 270 meters was enough 300kilotunová explosion on the surface of the fifteen days before an impending collision. The asteroid would hit somewhere beyond the moon, and 97 percent of Earth’s mass would be entirely missed.
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