A nuclear bomb could save Earth from a catastrophic asteroid impact, according to a first-of-its-kind lab study.
The new experiment, conducted using the world’s most powerful laboratory radiation source, demonstrated that detonating a coordinated nuclear strike close to an asteroid would produce enough force to deflect it from a fatal collision with our planet.
Yet the explosion wouldn’t be doing the heavy-lifting. Rather the powerful burst of X-rays made by the blast, according to the team that operates the Z machine radiation source at Sandia National Laboratory. The researchers published their findings Sept. 23 in the journal Nature.
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