X-rays from nuclear blasts could defend Earth from asteroids | Computer simulations demonstrated that X-rays emitted by a distal nuclear blast could deflect some asteroids that are about as wide as the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is long

>The experiment began in a vacuum chamber that held a blueberry-sized mock asteroid made of quartz — a mineral composed of the common asteroid component silica. Using the world’s most powerful X-ray generator, the team blasted the chamber for 6.6 nanoseconds. The pulse vaporized the foil supports suspending the quartz, releasing the mineral into a free fall. It also heated and vaporized the falling mineral’s surface, generating a gas plume.

[Read more here](https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nuclear-x-rays-deflect-earth-asteroids) and the [research article here. ](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-024-02633-7)