New Delhi: If you have seen the movie ‘Thor’ or any of Avenger series then you must have known the Superhero with a hammer. Humans can only dream of having the power of Thor, who can whirl and throw his hammer at blinding speeds and can smash anything that comes in the way. US space agency NASA in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is working on a similar concept that could nuke massive asteroids in the air.
This ‘Nano THOR’ concept aims to spin the satellite like the hammer of Thor. The mechanism behind is to connect small satellites with upper rocket stages by using miles-long tethers, rocket stages will help in spinning satellite with maximum speed.
Asteroids revolve around earth all the time. But we need to worry about an asteroid called Bennu if predictions are to believe that it has a1 in 2,700 chance of smacking into the earth in 2135. Bennu’s impact would release “three times more energy than all nuclear weapons detonated throughout history”- said Dante Lauretta, professor of Planetary Science in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona
Hammer still an idea, but if developed, it would be 9 meters tall, 8.8-ton spacecraft that could transport a nuclear device. NASA has been working on asteroid deflection plans for quite a time. HAMMER, would be much bigger.
