Nuclear devices in space have the potential to prove indispensable tools, ideal for protecting the planet from asteroid impacts. They are, however, currently forbidden, unless the 1967 Outer Space Treaty is properly amended. This is because they are viewed as destructive weapons of war.
Recent scientific research at Sandia National Laboratories proves that carefully aimed nuclear detonations in space, early enough in an object’s approach to Earth, can deflect a threatening comet or asteroid by enough to put it on a safe trajectory. The idea is not to try to pulverize the object by a direct hit, which might still shower Earth with debris. Rather, by detonating the warhead at a modest distance from the object, the forceful ablation (evaporation) of one side of its surface, induced by the intense X-ray of a nuclear detonation, would cause the entire object to move away from the detonation.
