Nuking an asteroid could save Earth from destruction, researchers show in 1st-of-its-kind X-ray experiment

A nuclear bomb could save Earth from a catastrophic asteroid impact, according to a first-of-its-kind lab study.

The new experiment, conducted using the world's most powerful laboratory radiation source, demonstrated that detonating a coordinated nuclear strike close to an asteroid would produce enough force to deflect it from a fatal collision with our planet. 

Yet the explosion wouldn't be doing the heavy-lifting. Rather the powerful burst of X-rays made by the blast, according to the team that operates the Z machine radiation source at Sandia National Laboratory. The researchers published their findings Sept. 23 in the journal Nature.

"To most people, the danger from asteroids seems remote," lead author Nathan Moore, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories, said in a statement. "But our planet is hit by BB-sized asteroids every day. We call them shooting stars. We don't want to wait for a large asteroid to show up and then scramble for the right method to deflect it."

In 2023, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences published a report arguing that planetary defense is a national priority. Previous simulations have shown that the shockwave made by a nuclear bomb could provide enough force to successfully deflect an oncoming asteroid. But the asteroids that were harmlessly deflected in these scenarios were ones spotted decades in advance. Asteroids appearing just several years away from Earth were deemed too close to nudge away without sending dangerous fragments hurtling to Earth. 

Related: NASA's asteroid-deflection mission is a smashing success, shortens space rock's orbit by a stunning 32 minutes

More troubling still, an ongoing NASA sky survey has estimated that roughly 25,000 objects big enough to cause significant destruction lurk near Earth. And because many of these are hidden by the sun's glare, only one-third of the potentially hazardous asteroids have been identified.