{"id":725604,"date":"2026-08-03T07:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T07:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/725604\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T07:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T07:09:13","slug":"chinese-scientists-reveal-most-effective-way-to-destroy-doomsday-asteroid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/725604\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese scientists reveal most effective way to destroy doomsday asteroid"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Chinese<\/a> scientists claim to have found the most effective way to bury and detonate a nuclear device <\/a>inside a large asteroid<\/a> to prevent a potentially cataclysmic collision with the Earth.<\/p>\n

Asteroids<\/a> pose a major threat to human civilisation<\/a>, having caused catastrophic environmental changes and mass extinctions<\/a> in the past.<\/p>\n

In recent years, astronomers have routinely flagged asteroids<\/a> measuring tens to hundreds of metres across that have frequently made close flybys of the Earth.<\/p>\n

A vast number of large asteroids near our planet also remain undiscovered, with warning times for potential collisions often ranging from a few days<\/a> to weeks. For large asteroids that are hundreds of metres wide<\/a>, methods like the one tested by Nasa\u2019s 2021-22 Dart mission cannot achieve effective deflection within short timeframes.<\/p>\n

\"IllustrationIllustration of a giant asteroid collision in outer space (Don Davis, Southwest Research Institute, via Eurekalert)<\/p>\n

To directly destroy or rapidly deflect large asteroids from their orbits, scientists at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology note, nuclear detonation is the most effective method.<\/p>\n

In extreme cases, it may be the only feasible approach for dealing with large space rocks or asteroids with short warning times, the researchers argue in a study published in Space: Science & Technology.<\/p>\n

In the methods theorised so far, however, the impact and position of nuclear detonation on an asteroid cannot be autonomously selected. <\/p>\n

The latest study outlines a new approach to detonate a nuclear device on a large near\u2011Earth asteroid.<\/p>\n

The researchers simulated a spacecraft releasing a penetration device to excavate a deep crater on the asteroid and then guiding a nuclear device into it for detonation. <\/p>\n

They assessed the damage caused to the rock by nuclear explosions of various sizes and burial depths.<\/p>\n

They also examined the effects of factors like launch-vehicle characteristics and impact velocity.<\/p>\n

The researchers found that an explosion the size of 200 Hiroshima bombs could completely blast apart an asteroid about 100m across.<\/p>\n

\"AA TV at Nasa\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, captures the final images from the Dart test (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

They further found that burying the bomb about 30 metres beneath the surface tripled the change in the asteroid\u2019s speed compared with a more shallow explosion. <\/p>\n

For instance, a kilometre-scale asteroid with a deep crater detonation at 20 meters could achieve a velocity increment exceeding 30cm per second away from the Earth.<\/p>\n

The findings provide an important foundation for planning and designing defences against large-sized or short-warning-time asteroids headed for the Earth, the scientists said, adding that nuclear blasts could be the most effective means of dealing with large asteroids with short warning times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study can provide references for the engineering design of defence against large near-Earth asteroids,\u201d the scientists wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-725604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}