{"id":140377,"date":"2024-09-23T15:20:25","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T15:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/23\/x-rays-from-nuclear-blasts-could-defend-earth-from-asteroids\/"},"modified":"2024-09-23T15:20:25","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T15:20:25","slug":"x-rays-from-nuclear-blasts-could-defend-earth-from-asteroids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/23\/x-rays-from-nuclear-blasts-could-defend-earth-from-asteroids\/","title":{"rendered":"X-rays from nuclear blasts could defend Earth from asteroids"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"X-rays<\/div> \r\n

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An asteroid hurtling toward Earth could be deflected without a spacecraft ever touching it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trick is using X-rays to divert the space rock, researchers report September 23 in\u00a0Nature Physics<\/em>. In lab experiments, scientists heated the surfaces of free-falling faux asteroids with X-ray radiation, producing vapor plumes that pushed the objects<\/a>\u00a0away. Subsequent computer simulations demonstrated that X-rays emitted by a distal nuclear blast could deflect some asteroids that are about as wide as the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is long.<\/p>\n\n\n