SPACE: It Might Be Harder Than We Think to “Armageddon” an Asteroid
When a science fiction plot portrays Earth in peril from a potentially devastating asteroid impact, a collection of heroes usually swoops in to save the day by detonating the enormous space rock into fragments. But in reality, exploding a city-size asteroid may require more power than once thought, according to a new study. Scientists had previously used computer models to estimate the impact needed to successfully shatter a big asteroid. However, a new model by another team of researchers recently came to a different conclusion by adding a variable that an older model omitted: how quickly cracks would spread through … Read more