NASA will be unable to defend our planet against a
doomsday asteroid that could smash into Earth in 2135, a chilling study has
revealed. Researchers found that it might be impossible to stop the space rock
– which is the size of the Empire State building – from careering into Earth
next century.
Scientists revealed that even their most advanced
technology would prove ‘inadequate’ for deflecting such a space rock, which has
been dubbed Bennu. The consequences would be ‘dire’ experts have warned, and
the asteroid has sparked fears that it could even wipe out life for good.
Scientists are investigating the possibility of
using a specially designed spacecraft to nuke approaching cosmic objects, in
hopes that doing so could deflect the threat. While it could be possible to
divert a near-Earth object (NEO) by slamming into it with a so-called impactor,
experts say a nuclear explosion may be the best bet when time is running out.
In a new paper, scientists from NASA and the National
Nuclear Security Administration have laid out a plan for the Hypervelocity
Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response (HAMMER).
The 8.8-ton HAMMER spacecraft could be used to steer
itself directly into a small asteroid, or blow the space rock up using a
nuclear device, according to BuzzFeed News.
The team has devised a proposal around a potential
impact with the 1,600-foot-wide asteroid Bennu, which is currently the
destination for NASA’s Osiris-Rex sample return mission. While Earth isn’t at
risk of a collision with Bennu any time soon, there’s a 1 in 2,700 chance it
will slam into our planet sometime next century. Bennu is also the best-studied
asteroid of all the known NEOs, the researchers note.
‘The two realistic responses considered are the use
of a spacecraft functioning as either a kinetic impactor or a nuclear explosive
carrier to deflect the approaching NEO,’ the authors wrote in the study,
published to the journal Acta Astronautica.
But, there are several factors that would determine
the best approach. The asteroid’s size and mass must be taken into
consideration, along with the amount of time available before it hits Earth.
Plus, there are always ‘various uncertainties.’
‘Whenever practical, the kinetic impactor is the
preferred approach, but various factors, such as large uncertainties or short
available response time, reduce the kinetic impactor’s suitability and,
ultimately, eliminate its sufficiency,’ the authors wrote. By driving multiple
spacecraft into the asteroid’s path, it could be possible to slow the object
down and throw it off course to avoid a collision with Earth. If the conditions
aren’t right to use the kinetic impactor, however, nuking it might be the only
option.
‘If the asteroid is small enough, and we detect it
early enough, we can do it with the impactor,’ physicist David Dearborn of the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory told BuzzFeed News.
‘The impactor is not as flexible as the nuclear
option when we really want to change the speed of the body in a hurry.’ Despite
ongoing efforts to catalogue potential hazards in Earth’s vicinity, scientists
have increasingly warned that there are countless large objects that remain
undetected. Given the risk of an inevitable impact sometime in the future, the
experts say it’s necessary to plan for the worst.
The researchers will present their proposal at a
conference in Japan this coming May. For now, however, whether or not the
HAMMER plan will ever come to fruition remains up in the air.
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