An ‘inhuman’-interest piece in MIT Technology Review:
April 14, 2025 Robin George Andrews Meet the researchers testing the “Armageddon” approach to asteroid defense www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/14/1114306/space-nuclear-explosion-asteroid-protection-research/
Don’t accuse me of fearmongering just because I include planetary defense coverage in the wider small-body coverage. In this recent Technology Review piece, experimental astronomy (lab work using asteroid simulants) is given open attention. Before anyone can claim ‘coverup! coverup!’, both the magazine and the scientists involved are willing to share a snapshot of their work. (Not that people who cry ‘coverup!’ will find something to cry about anyway.)
In this piece, astronomers try to gauge the possibility of nuclear deflection of asteroids, without actual nuclear explosions. To do this, they select the most relevant effect of a nuclear bomb- a burst of X-rays- in the lab, on a sample of rock expected to be on a threatening asteroid. One team has a direct X-ray source, the other, a laser pumping system. In order to have confidence when a nuclear bomb is actually called for, these sub-scale demonstrators should address our open issues.
Have a read- it’s not a long article.