Experts have come up with a plan to explode an asteroid from the inside just in case earth is ever in the “Armageddon” style event of a meteor set for a collision course with planet Earth
Chinese scientists have penned an “Armageddon” style plan to help prevent the end of the world in the event a doomsday asteroid is on a collision course with planet Earth.
The wild plan comes after space experts from NASA have warned a 15,000 several-hundred-foot-wide space rock could hit the earth with enough force to completely destroy entire cities. The daring plan floated by the Chinese scientists involves hitting an asteroid with a bomb numerous times more powerful that the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.
The study stated: “Mitigating the risk of near-Earth asteroid (NEA) impacts is critical to global security and the survival of human civilization. In particular, large NEAs with short warning times pose a devastating threat to humanity.” In a chilling diagnosis the experts stated “directly destroying or rapidly deflecting” was the “only feasible method” during the study.
The study added: “Asteroid impacts on Earth have occurred several times in human history, causing catastrophic environmental changes and mass extinctions.”
“It is one of the major potential threats that could lead to human destruction and has therefore become a hot topic of concern in the international community.”
During the study, the authors ran extensive simulations of a virtual nuclear bombs, testing if the explosion could virtually destroy a space rock that was destined to hit the Earth. Experts found rather than detonating the nuke nearby the asteroid, the best place to set the bomb off would be inside the meteor.
The plan found setting off the explosion from inside the celestial object would break it apart from within. During the simulations the team tested just how much fire power it would take to destroy asteroids of various sizes.
The study found a 300-kiloton nuke could completely obliterate an asteroid measuring around 164 feet (50 metres) across. The team found a much larger 3-megaton explosion could destroy a space rock measuring about 328 feet (100 metres) across.
The scientists stated: “The defence against asteroid impacts on Earth has always been one of the major challenges in international astronautics.”
The experts added: “Carrying out research on NEA defence is an inevitable choice for humanity to protect its survival and development.”
The development comes after James Orsulak, who helps lead ExLabs, says that NASA doesn’t have enough money dedicated to stopping space rocks from hitting Earth.
He said: “NASA’s planetary defence budget is less than one percent of the total space agency. That’s not enough to ever do anything.”
Orsulakb believes that instead of waiting for the government to take action, private companies should build spaceships that could potentially save us, Space reported. If companies compete to build the best and cheapest ships, we could consequently send them into space much faster.