Two Physicists Say Earth Can Be Saved from Real-Life "Don't Look Up" Disaster

An asteroid is on its way to Earth - a scenario that we always see in movies but has also kept us wondering about our fate if it happens.

Late last year, Netflix released "Don't Look Up," a movie about a "planet-killing" comet bursting towards Earth, which left us to wonder if we have the means to survive such a disaster.

Two physicists at the University of California Santa Barbara have a solution to save humanity in case a massive comet or asteroid is on its way to destroying the Earth.

How Can We Survive?

According to CBSNews, physicists Philip Lubin and Alex Cohen concluded in their paper entitled "Don't Forget to Look Up" that it is possible, based on theories, to destroy a 6-mile-wide comet or asteroid that is about to wipe us out.

With the technological advancements we currently have, they said humanity has the resources to prevent being wiped out by a comet or asteroid, a disaster that erased the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

However, just like in movies, this would require quick responses.

Lubin and Alex's paper focused on various explosive penetrators for the "Pulverize It" (PI) method.

The two Physicists determined that utilizing small nuclear explosive devices (NEDs) in the penetrators is an effective method of pulverizing it.

Combined with heavy-lift rockets like the Space Launch System (SLS) of NASA or SpaceX's Starship, this method is enough to counteract this kind of threat.

What Do We Need?

According to Universe Today, the PI method cannot totally destroy an asteroid of that size but can change its path by generating an explosive thrust that would vaporize a part of it.

Citing an example, Lubin and Alex wrote in their paper that a 6-mile-wide body hitting Earth at about 90,000 mph would have an impact energy of some 300 million megatons of TNT, which is like 40,000 times the destructive yield of the world's combined nuclear arsenals.

Although a "planet killer" event only happens once per 100 million years, it is for sure just a matter of when, so we better be prepared.

CBS News reported, citing Lubin and Alex's paper, that in order to break up an asteroid that size, 10 megatons of mechanical energy would be needed.

In an experiment, the physicists also looked at what would be needed to break up a body that is equal to the size of Texas or 830 km diameter.

The answer is 10 million gigatons of TNT or about 1 million times more energy than available in the world's combined nuclear arsenals.

True, it is always difficult to defy such devastation.

However, as the paper proves, we have the capacity to save ourselves from extinction; we just need to be prepared.

As per Universe Today, the physicists showed that even in relatively extreme short-term warning cases, we can respond if and only if we prepare.

So, the answer to the question of whether we can survive or not is actually a big, sure "yes."