By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-09-23 18:47:21 | Updated at 2024-09-30 13:26:52
6 days ago
They're already used to help diagnose a whole range of medical issues.
But X-rays could also save the future of mankind, according to researchers.
A new study suggests that X-ray pulses could be used to deflect enormous asteroids on a collision course with Earth.
Laboratory experiments show they work by vaporizing the surface of an asteroid – turning it into a gas – and therefore changing its trajectory.
Experts say this technology could potentially be used for future planetary defense missions, to deflect comets and asteroids whose projected path brings them a little too close for comfort.
Scientists have discovered a new way to save Earth from a catastrophic asteroid strike: using x-ray pulses to vaporize the approaching space rock
A team from Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, used X-rays generated from a nuclear device to target two tiny mock-up asteroids in a vacuum – similar to the conditions found in space.
In both experiments they observed the pulses heating up the surface of the asteroids, resulting in a vapor plume that changed their momentum and trajectory.
The researchers then scaled up these measurements to conduct simulations involving larger rocks.
They suggest that asteroids heading towards Earth with a diameter of up to 4km could be deflected using this strategy.
Writing in the journal Nature Physics they said: ‘Asteroid impacts are among the many natural hazards facing civilization.
‘Although most asteroids bypass the Earth or cause little damage, the largest collisions have led to regional devastation and even the elimination of habitable climates.
‘Although rare, the elimination of devastating impacts has become a national priority.’
They referenced a recent test, carried out by NASA, that involved using a spacecraft to hit and change the path of an asteroid.
This illustration shows NASA's DART spacecraft approaching the Dimorphos asteroid before it intercepted and deflected it away from Earth
Although effective, this method is expensive and involves a lot of time and preparation.
‘The technology demonstration mission by NASA, known as Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), to intercept and deflect Dimorphos by colliding a spacecraft with the rocky asteroid was remarkable,’ they wrote.
‘Yet kinetic impactors may be an insufficient defense for the largest asteroids capable of global disruptions, especially when warning times are short.
‘Here we demonstrate the simulation of asteroid defection with an X-ray pulse.
‘We scale these results to proposed interceptor energies and predict that asteroids up to a diameter of [around] 4km can be defected with this mechanism, showing a viable way to prepare for future planetary defense missions.’
Arguably the most famous asteroid impact is that of the Chicxulub asteroid, which collided with our planet 66 million years ago and triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs.
That asteroid was up to 15km in diameter and hit at a speed of 20km per second – causing a rim of mountains taller than the Himalayas to form around the crater and filling the sky with fine dust for 15 years.
