But asteroids aren't inherently menacing. They're just ancient objects, formed early in our solar system's history, that inevitably strike planets from time to time. When one veers toward Earth, it's a celestial rock on its own long-lived trajectory.

Earth exists in a cosmic shooting gallery, and it's not a matter of if but rather when a large asteroid hits the bullseye. It's happened plenty of times in the past, but for the first time, humanity might have a chance to avert disaster.

The experiment recorded in nanosecond detail how a very large pulse of radiation from a nuclear blast could essentially vaporze the side of an approaching asteroid, and change its trajectory.

Humanity could use a nuclear bomb to deflect a massive, life-threatening asteroid hurtling towards Earth in the future, according to scientists who tested the theory in the laboratory by blasting x-rays at a marble-sized "mock asteroid".

A powerful burst of X-rays from a nuclear explosion could be used to stop Armageddon just in the nick of time, a new experiment suggests.

Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have made significant strides in understanding how nuclear explosions could be employed to deflect dangerous asteroids. Through laboratory experiments simulating nuclear blasts using X-rays on a mock asteroid,

A recent study suggests nuclear bombs could shield Earth from asteroids. This innovative research involved the world’s strongest lab radiation source.