The question of how humanity can protect itself from a collision with a large asteroid remains a subject of scientific debate. The main method under consideration is to deflect the orbit of a celestial body with a nuclear explosion. It causes conflicting assessments among experts, report kp.ru.
A group of researchers, after simulating an impact on an iron-nickel asteroid, came to the conclusion that the nuclear charge would not split it into pieces. Instead, the energy from the explosion would cause the rock to soften and then harden, allowing the asteroid to change course without forming dangerous debris.
The objectors took turns presenting the results of other calculations. According to them, a megaton nuclear explosion near a 100-meter asteroid several months before impact would completely destroy it. A cloud of debris will be thrown into space, some of which (from 0.1% to 1% of the object's original mass) may still reach Earth.
Some experts are skeptical about the relevance of such research. As MIPT professor Alexander Rodin notes, the risk of a collision with a large asteroid in the near future (millennium) is extremely small. According to him, such work could have a hidden goal – improving nuclear weapons under the pretext of protecting the planet.
According to NASA calculations, known potentially dangerous objects, such as asteroids Apophis and Bennu, will not threaten Earth in the coming decades. However, scientists admit that about 5% of giant asteroids larger than one kilometer have yet to be discovered, which still requires the development of planetary defense methods. Therefore, despite active debates, humanity still does not have a unified and guaranteed plan to be saved from the asteroid threat, the document said.
