NASA reportedly has some plans to divert a hazardous asteroid that may potentially hit the Earth that may affect people. However, in a book by Dr. Natalie Starkey, titled Catching Stardust, it claimed the federal agency's scheme might not work out for some reason. But, will the use of a nuclear weapon do the work?
There are millions of asteroids flying all over the space. When they collide, it's called "impact events" that play an important role in shaping new planets. If NASA sees Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) that can harm the life on Earth, it labels it as Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHO).
But, if a distant space rock manages to slip through NASA's defense, there are a lot of desperate measures that it can do to save life on Earth. Starkey revealed there are many options, but the far-fetched one is using a nuclear weapon, per Express.
It may sound crazy, but scientists are looking at the possibility of using a nuclear weapon to blow a dangerous asteroid into tiny pieces. But although it seems useful, there is a big problem that comes with it that may not save humanity.
"The resultant shrapnel from such an explosion, however small, would be highly radioactive, so it's probably not something we would want raining down on the planet," Starkey explained. She suggested the PHO could be blown up in a pre-emptive strike on one of its close-Earth visits even before the predicted annihilation happens. This way, any radioactive fallout would not affect life on Earth.
Aside from affecting humanity, there are other complications like politics. According to the Outer Space Treaty, nuclear weapons are not permitted to be used in space, unless there may be an extraordinary event that carries a major threat on Earth.
A modern-day nuclear warhead, too, may not survive the impact energies that come with the course of action. Hence, it is more likely that it will be detonated close to the space object so that the nuclear blast energy will push it to a different course, which is also known as a nuclear stand-off explosion.
NBC News reported in June that NASA had updated its plan to alter the course of potentially hazardous asteroids that may hit Earth. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy revealed a report, titled "National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan," that contained the steps that NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency would take over the next 10 years to prevent the dangerous asteroids from hitting Earth and prepare the country for the possible consequences if that happened.
