Can nuclear blasts protect Earth from incoming asteroids? Scientists use X-rays in first successful test

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Researchers in New Mexico used Sandia National Laboratory’s Z machine, the most powerful laboratory source of radiation in the world, to mimic how an X-ray pulse could vaporize the surface of an asteroid and deflect it. “But, how do you test the deflection of an asteroid in a laboratory?” At their New Mexico laboratory, Moore and his team miniaturized the experiment, using mock asteroids about the size of a marble. open image in gallery NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures debris blasted from the surface of asteroid Dimorphos following the agency’s DART mission. “If the asteroid is very large, multiple kilometers in size or larger, there simply isn’t enough energy available by ramming spacecraft to knock it off course,” said Moore.