The new paper states that the deadly asteroid can be cut with a rocket power bomb to avoid hitting the earth

Defend the earth with rockets, asteroid crushing plans

The illustration shows that the asteroid is crushed into fragments. (Picture source: NASA/JPL)

A group of researchers hope to use a new planet defense method they call PI -the first letters of "crushing it" in English to save the earth from the potential asteroid doomsday.

The plan explained in detail in a long technical papers on the website of the University of California Santa Barba (UCSB) experimental cosmology group and submitted it to the "Space Research Progress" magazine -aimed at the purpose of life -threatening life. Large small asteroids crushed into hundreds of small pieces, and launched a series of "penetrating sticks" to the path of the asteroid.

Researchers wrote that these penetrating rods are about 6 to 10 feet long (that is, 1.8 to 3 meters), which may contain explosives -or even some nuclear explosives -before those near asteroids reach the earth's atmosphere, it is very very very very very popular, it is very It has long exploded it into a fragment that is relatively harmless than the earth.

The author believes that the fragmented rain may still cause damage to the structure and humans below. However, compared with the influence of large asteroids, this damage can be ignored. For example, in February 2013, 62 feet wide (19 m) meteors exploded over Yarpensk in Russia in February 2013. Its intensity is equivalent to 30 Hiroshima bomb. (If the meteor exploded directly over a large city, the shock wave caused by it may cause millions of people to die, but the explosion occurred in a vast area outside the city of Carbisk, causing damage and injuries, but there was no fatal fatal, but there was no fatal death event).

The difference between a cartoon ratio, a large asteroid and hundreds of small asteroids are similar to the "500 kg [1,100 pounds] triangle piano falls from one kilometer to your head ... [Or] 500 kg of foam balls fall from the same height to you, "Study author Philip Rubin and Alexander Cohen are physicists from the University of California San Diego. The editorial wrote.

PI plans to directly deploy dozens of spear -like "penetrating rods" near the path of small asteroid, and "crushed" rocks into hundreds of pieces. (Image source: Alexander Cohen)

Ferry threat

NASA tracked the movement of near -ground stars with a diameter of more than 8,000 yuan (140 meters) in diameter more than 460 feet (140 meters). However, as the Carbinsk incident indicates, smaller objects can still bring huge impact.

The reason why the Yarbinsk meteor is so destructive is that some reasons are that astronomers have not foreseen its arrival. According to NASA, this rock is much smaller than the asteroids usually tracked by space agencies, and it rushes directly from the sun to the earth.

Researchers say that one of the advantages of the PI plan is that in theory, it can launch a rocket full of penetrating rods in a very short period of time -even a few minutes before the object reaches the earth's atmosphere.

Researchers wrote in an article published by Scientific Americans: "A 10 -meter -wide space rocky impactter crushed over the size of the Russian car in Russia ... You can be intercepted only 100 seconds before the impact." For launchers for intercontinental ballistic missiles.

At the same time, the research team stated that a piece of rock -sized rock -sized rocks like 1,200 feet width (370 m) asteroids can be "treated 10 days before hitting the earth." With the existing rocket technology, such as SpaceX Falcon No. 9 Lae Rockets, you can easily deploy the explosive stick to such an asteroid area.

If these estimates are accurate, the PI method will be a more flexible planet defense plan than the current NASA's current task, that is, to change its route by launching rockets on near -ground asteroids. The task is called Double Xingxing Return to Test (DART) and will be launched in November, but it will be nearly a year before the test Rockets reaches its goal: the asteroid Didymos's 525 -foot width (160 meters) satellite. If it is successful, the rocket impact will slow down the moon's orbit, which is enough to make astronomers determine whether the asteroid regulating is effective.

However, PI also needs to conduct a wide range of tests to prove its feasibility. First of all, the ground test on the fake asteroids, and then moved to the real goals of the space. Such tests have not been planned yet.

Not only that, the success of this method also depends on the ability of scientists to detect. Whether or not small near -ground stars such as the Carbinsk impact incident are detected before entering the atmosphere. This is also a work that is ongoing.

"If there is no suitable 'early warning system', PI and any other planet defense methods will provide subordinate protection," the author summarized in their "Scientific American" article. "Pi is just part of this urgent problem: To protect the earth properly, we must fully open more eyes of the sky."

By: Brandon Specktor

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