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by ibgames

EARTHDATE: March 13, 2016

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REAL LIFE NEWS: LASERS TO ZAP ASTEROIDS

by Hazed

How do you deal with asteroids that might hit the planet – assuming Bruce Willis isn’t available to plant a nuke on them (see the film Armageddon)? Well, you could zap them with lasers to deflect them.

That’s the plan dreamed up by researchers from the University of California. They think they’ve found a way to use a high-powered laser to push asteroids out of the way.

Their plan is to put a laser called the De-Star – or Directed Energy System for Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation (yes, the acronym is a bit of a stretch) – into orbit, where it could target any asteroids which look likely to collide with Earth, firing a high-energy laser which could cause part of the rock to vaporise. This would eject gas, creating enough force to change its course so it misses us.

They have tested this technique in the laboratory, by blasting a piece of basalt, an igneous rock which has a similar composition to some asteroids. When it glowed white-hot, it began to lose mass as the rock sublimated – that is, it turned to gas. They were able to use the resulting gas plume to slow and reverse the rotation of a spinning piece of basalt.

It sounds promising, although the technique would need plenty of warning of an impending asteroid collision: using a 10 kW laser, it would take about 30 years to deflect a 100m wide asteroid!

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/12182894/Scientists-develop-mini-Death-Star-to-protect-us-from-asteroids.html

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