Nuclear Bomb Pulverises Space Rock

DESTRUCTION At a short notice, a nuclear blast is the most efficient weapon against asteroids. Scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US have calculated what would happen, if the Itokawa asteroid were hit by a nuclear-armed probe.

N U C L E A R WA R H E A D THE NUCLEAR WARHEAD THE ITOKAWA ASTEROID 1 2 is located at the tip of the probe. The bomb has an explosive force of 1 megatonne, corresponding to 60+ Hiroshima bombs and enough to destroy an asteroid measuring about 500 m....