threat of impact because a collection of smaller asteroid rubble cannot be effectively destroyed or deflected by impact mechanisms such as a HAIV (hyperactivity asteroid intercept vehicle) or nuclear blast (Near). In addition, metallic comets require more force to change velocity than carbon based rocks. Nuclear Explosive Device The responses to asteroid collision are what fuel the scripts of blockbuster films, and captures the minds of daydreamers everywhere. There are dozens of theories on how to deflect or destroy an asteroid, however this paper will only focus on those considered and funded by the government. Using a nuclear detonation to vaporize or United State’s change the course of the objects orbit to avoid hitting Earth is the most funded approach. In 1967 students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology calculated the nuclear megatonnage needed to divert a 1.4 km wide asteroid off of a collision course with Earth given 18 months notice in a project nicknamed It was concluded that multiple Icarus. rockets loaded with 100 megatons of nuclear energy would be needed to change the velocity of the rocket enough to miss colliding with the surface (Shoemaker). However Dr. Wie of Iowa State University examined the same simulation and concluded that using a HAIV was the only method to deliver a force strong enough to divert course. The HAIV would increase speed gradually as it moved towards the asteroid until it preformed a kinetic impaction in which a large crater would form exposing more vulnerable center of the asteroid composed of soft x-rays and neutrons. Then the rockets would be fired to strike this crater and disable the threat. Dr. Wie expressed his confidence in this method in according to their computer models, with a warning time of 30 days 2014, “For example,
threat of impact because a collection of smaller asteroid rubble cannot be effectively destroyed or deflected by impact mechanisms such as a HAIV (hyperactivity asteroid intercept vehicle) or nuclear blast (Near). In addition, metallic comets require more force to change velocity than carbon based rocks. Nuclear Explosive Device The responses to asteroid collision are what fuel the scripts of blockbuster films, and captures the minds of daydreamers everywhere. There are dozens of theories on how to deflect or destroy an asteroid, however this paper will only focus on those considered and funded by the United State’s government. Using a nuclear detonation to vaporize or change the course of the objects orbit to avoid hitting Earth is the most funded approach. In 1967 students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology calculated the nuclear megatonnage needed to divert a 1.4 km wide asteroid off of a collision course with Earth given 18 months notice in a project nicknamed Icarus. It was concluded that multiple rockets loaded with 100 megatons of nuclear energy would be needed to change the velocity of the rocket enough to miss colliding with the surface (Shoemaker). However Dr. Wie of Iowa State University examined the same simulation and concluded that using a HAIV was the only method to deliver a force strong enough to divert course. The HAIV would increase speed gradually as it moved towards the asteroid until it preformed a kinetic impaction in which a large crater would form exposing more vulnerable center of the asteroid composed of soft x-rays and neutrons. Then the rockets would be fired to strike this crater and disable the threat. Dr. Wie expressed his confidence in this method in 2014, “For example, according to their computer models, with a warning time of 30 days