Improved asteroid deflection model runs faster, reveals more doomsday worries
Sandia researchers have made asteroid-deflection simulations more than 1,600 times faster—without pretending every space rock is a perfect sphere. By combining two specialist modelling codes, the team can better simulate how X-rays from a nearby nuclear detonation might heat an asteroid and alter its path, even when the object has an irregular shape. The faster approach also uncovered a major complication: which side of an asteroid faces the blast could change its resulting velocity by as much as fivefold. That means a deflection plan may depend on details we might not know in time, including an asteroid’s shape, orientation and internal structure. See what the findings mean for planetary defence—and why getting the aim right could matter so much.