Test the meteorite laser gun to save the Earth

Researchers have revealed images of testing a state-of-the-art laser gun, designed to block and divert any meteor that threatens the Earth.

Test the meteorite to block meteorites

The new model of the laser gun, fully known as the meteorite and exploratory navigation energy system (DE-STAR) . Scientists have revealed how this gun model works in the laboratory, albeit on a smaller scale.

The DE-STAR system is the invention of physicist Philip Lubin of the University of California, Santa Barbara and professor Gary B. Hughes from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo (USA). In order to reconstruct the laser weapon's ability to block and deflect meteorites, Travis Brashears and his colleagues conducted experiments to simulate the conditions in space.

The meteorite and exploratory navigation energy system (DE-STAR).(Daily Mail photo).

Using basalt - a similar component of known meteors, experts aim the laser gun at the target of basalt until it emits hot white light, the process known as "laser corrosion". This changes the mass of the object and creates a "rocket engine" , using the same meteorite as an explosive.

In space, such a change is strong enough to change the way.

"What happens is a process called sublimation or evaporation, turning a solid or liquid into a gas. That gas creates a bird-like cloud, producing a reaction. or oppressive and balanced pressure, and that's what we measured , " explained Brashears.

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In the experiment, the team used magnets to spin basalt simulating a meteorite and then fired powerful laser beams in the opposite direction to slow that rotation. The results showed that the basalt sample decelerated, stopped and changed direction, then turned around again, indicating the asteroid deflection was successful.

According to Lubin physics professor, the speed manipulation of a spinning meteor brings another important possibility in space: the ability to explore, acquire and exploit meteorites . This is what the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) seems to be targeting in their meteorite mission.