All Things Space, UFOs, etc.LLNL simulations explore nuclear mitigation of asteroid threats Posted on October 19, 2026 by Administrator Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers are developing three-dimensional simulations to examine how a nuclear device could be used to deflect or potentially disrupt an asteroid threatening Earth. The work, published recently in The Planetary Science Journal, uses LLNL’s Spheral simulation code to more accurately model how an asteroid might respond when X-rays from a nuclear device detonated near its surface rapidly heat and vaporize material. After validating the approach against established asteroid-deflection models, researchers used Spheral to study three complex disruption scenarios.
