🌅 Nuking an Asteroid to Save the Moon

SOURCE

NASA

WHAT TO KNOW

• Asteroid 2024 YR made headlines last December when astronomers discovered the 180-foot space rock had a relatively high chance of impacting Earth, peaking at about 3.1%. Since then, while the probability of an Earth impact has fallen to just 0.28%, the odds that it could hit the Moon have climbed to about 4%. If the asteroid crashes into the Moon, it will produce lunar “ejecta,” sending dust and small rocks into space, significantly increasing the number of astronaut- and spacecraft-threatening micrometeoroids located in low Earth orbit.

WHY IT MATTERS

• NASA is considering several options to protect the Moon, including crashing a spacecraft into the asteroid to deflect it off its path. However, that mission would need to launch far enough in advance that a deflection would ensure the asteroid misses both the Moon and the Earth, and, with only seven years until potential impact, NASA says such a mission is unlikely. Another option is “robust disruption,” which is NASA’s way of saying “blowing it up.” If the robust-disruption option is chosen, NASA would send a 1-megaton nuclear missile into space to obliterate the asteroid.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Asteroids the size of 2024 YR are considered “city killers,” since an impact with Earth would be devastating and have enough power to wipe out an entire city (depending on where it makes impact). The ultimate plan will be decided in 2028, when 2024 YR is visible to land-based telescopes and astronomers have a complete picture of its probability to hit the Moon.