Russia plans to use nuclear weapons to destroy asteroids threatening Earth

Russian scientists are planning to use nuclear weapons to destroy asteroids that could threaten Earth.

Russian scientists plan to use nuclear weapons to destroy dangerous asteroids. Photo: Techworm.

The Telegraph reports that Russia's space research institute is working with rocket engineers to find a way to launch a nuclear warhead into space, under a European Commission-funded program called NEOShield (Near-Earth Object Shield).

"The work is divided among members from various countries and organizations, among which Russia is tasked with researching the deflection of dangerous space objects by nuclear explosions," the Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine-Building Equipment (TsNIIMash), part of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, said in a press release on January 16.

The deployment and use of nuclear weapons in space is banned under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. However, Russian experts believe that governments would not object to firing nuclear-tipped missiles into space if Earth were threatened by an asteroid.

"If the asteroid can cause serious damage or even affect life on Earth, the ban will be lifted naturally," TsNIIMash asserted.

According to scientists, the safest method is to detonate the asteroid while it is still in space, causing it to change its path and head away from Earth. Nuclear explosions near comets or asteroids will burn up some of the asteroid's mass, creating a recoil effect that changes its orbit.

The Earth has suffered many asteroid impacts. One asteroid measuring nearly 10 km wide may have wiped out the dinosaurs when it struck what is now Mexico.

In 2013, a 20-meter-wide meteor exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, injuring 1,500 people and damaging 7,000 buildings. In 1908, a much larger meteor (about 60-190 meters) exploded over the Siberian city of Tunguska, flattening 2,000 square kilometers of forest, with a destructive force equivalent to 1,000 atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Japan.

Other proposals have also been put forward, such as changing the asteroid's orbit by crashing a spacecraft or using the small gravitational force between the asteroid and a nearby spacecraft to shift it to a different orbit.

Russia has announced plans to create an early warning center to scan the skies for objects that could collide with Earth. In an outline of Russia's new space goals for 2025, TsNIIMash said it would use four observation satellites and develop special software to track potentially dangerous asteroids.

"This is the most unique and effective idea to proactively detect dangerous celestial bodies 30 days or earlier, before they enter the Earth's atmosphere," said a TsNIIMash representative.

According to VnExpress