Washington : A new approach that uses a spacecraft to crash at high speeds into an asteroid headed for a collision with the Earth may prevent the potentially devastating consequences of an impact, scientists say. One technique to divert an asteroid, called kinetic impact, uses a spacecraft to crash into the body at high speeds, researchers said. reports PTI .
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have been studying the effectiveness of the kinetic-impactor strategy by carrying out 3D simulations of the process. They found that the asteroid deflection by kinetic impact is sensitive to a range of asteroid characteristics, including strength, porosity, rotation and shape.
“This study emphasises the important role of asteroid characterisation research, which is needed to constrain the different types of conditions that could be encountered at potential deflection targets,” said lead author Megan Syal.
