NASA's meteorite protection strategies

NASA studied various options to deflect meteors or reduce the damage they caused when colliding with the Earth.

Gravity tug boat

Currently, no weapon is strong enough to destroy an asteroid when detected in a short time, according to RT. NASA believes that the safest way to avoid catastrophe is to develop an early warning system.

Scientists need to discover an asteroid before decades if they want to prevent it from colliding with the Earth. In fact, they also need an equal amount of time to evaluate the structure of the celestial body and decide which deviation technique to use before conducting a task can only make it deviate by one or two centimeters every second.

Nearly flying spacecraft deflects asteroids.(Video: YouTube).

If asteroid is detected early enough, scientists can change its path using gravity from a spacecraft, according to NASA. Gravity tugs can fly close to celestial bodies for several decades, gradually pulling it to a safe place in the universe, where people can study or exploit for commercial purposes. This potentially expensive and time-consuming project is still in the planning stage.

Burning lasers

In February 2013, Chelyabinsk meteorites rushed through the atmosphere that scientists had not previously discovered, reminding people of the threat of celestial objects near Earth. It exploded in the western sky of Russia and released energies 20 - 30 times higher than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

In the future, scientists can use lasers to treat meteorites like Chelyabinsk. This is a laser projection technique on the surface of asteroids, turning it from solid to gas.

A study by Strathclyde University's space science laboratory shows that, theoretically, it is feasible to leverage solar rays to power a fleet of laser-carrying spacecraft.

Turning stones into air eliminates the possibility of celestial bodies breaking into many pieces and can pose a greater danger to the Earth. In addition, this way does not require spacecraft to land on a moving celestial surface.

Kinetic collision

Scientists believe that a kinematic collision device, ie a crashing missile that deflects asteroids, can be effective for large celestial bodies at risk of crashing into Earth. Scientists will conduct a task in the near future to test the feasibility of this method.

This is a joint mission between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), called Meteorological Deflection and Deflection Assessment (AIDA), expected to be implemented in October 2020. They will launch two spacecraft up into space to experiment with the Didymos asteroid when it approaches the Earth in 2022.

The project uses two spacecraft crashing into meteors and tracking the collision.(Photo: Science Office).

First, the NASA spacecraft in charge of launching is called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) , which will crash into Didymos. The second spacecraft, ESA's Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM), will fly around this asteroid to analyze the impact of the collision.

Scientists hope that AIM will bring valuable valuable information for future efforts to protect the Earth. Any Didymos change will mark the first time humanity has significantly changed the path of an object in the solar system.

Nuclear collision

Considered a final solution, nuclear detonation to deflect asteroids will cause ethical and political challenges.

The solution to attack asteroids by nuclear could be controversial.(Photo: Daily Express).

Students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted their first public study of the method in 1967. In a project called Icarus, students proposed NASA to launch 6 Saturn V missiles and retrofit them. Nuclear warheads for each.

The team set up a transport system so that the rocket would first launch to the asteroid 13 days from the collision with Earth, the second missile 10 days away, and so on, according to Wired. The project has 71% of the ability to protect the Earth completely from disaster and 86% of damage reduction.

However, the 1966 Space Treaty prohibits the use of weapons of mass destruction, meaning international consensus is needed before launching missiles carrying nuclear warheads into asteroids.