An X-ray pulse may be capable of vaporizing the surface of an asteroid and altering its trajectory, according to a proof-of-concept study published in Nature Physics.
A laboratory experiment that mimics the deflection of an asteroid model using this technique suggests that this technology could potentially be used in future planetary defense missions.
Comets and asteroids can pose a threat to our planet if their trajectories come too close to Earth.
As recently demonstrated by NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, a spacecraft can be used to hit and alter the trajectory of an asteroid.
However, this physical impact approach requires a lot of time and preparation and is generally costly.
In an alternative approach, the X-rays from a nuclear explosion could be used to rapidly heat the surface of the targeted object, causing it to vaporize and change its direction of motion.
Nathan Moore and colleagues tested how to mimic the effect of an impact from a nuclear device on an asteroid in laboratory experiments. They used X-rays to illuminate two asteroid models 12 millimeters wide in vacuum — one sample consisted of quartz, while the other was made of fused silica.
In both experiments, Moore and his colleagues observed that the X-ray pulses heated the surface of the asteroid analogs, producing a vapor plume that transferred momentum to the quartz and silica targets and generated speeds of around 69.5 meters per second and 70.3 meters per second, respectively.
The researchers then used these measurements to perform numerical simulations of the scale of this asteroid deflection method and suggest that near-Earth objects with a diameter of about 4 kilometers could be deflected with the nuclear-pendulum strategy.
The authors suggest that future experiments could investigate other materials and target architectures and test different X-ray impulses, since the vapor plume generated by X-ray pulses depends on the asteroid’s chemical composition.
