Can firing nuclear weapon stop 'catastrophic' asteroid from reaching Earth?

A study was published this month that looked into the possibility of launching a nuclear weapon "millions of miles" into space to stop a devastating asteroid from destroying Earth.

Following a Nasa mission in 2022 that successfully redirected a massive space rock, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) created a modelling tool to evaluate that potential.

The new instrument, which is described in the Planetary Science Journal, aids scientists in determining whether they have any more options after Nasa used a spacecraft as a kinetic impactor to divert the 2022 asteroid from its intended path during the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission.

“If we have enough warning time, we could potentially launch a nuclear device, sending it millions of miles away to an asteroid that is headed toward Earth,” LLNL physicist Mary Burkey, who was head of the research team said in a statement according to the New York Post.

Burkey pointed out that nuclear devices had a larger percentage of energy density per unit than the space agency's kinetic impactor, making them a more effective means of combating asteroids.

There are two conceivable outcomes when the device comes into contact with the asteroid.

“We would then detonate the device and either deflect the asteroid, keeping it intact but providing a controlled push away from Earth, or we could disrupt the asteroid, breaking it up into small, fast-moving fragments that would also miss the planet,” Burkey noted.