“For a one-nanometer fall, we can ignore Earth’s gravity for 20 millionths of a second as Z produces a burst of X-rays that sweeps over the mock-asteroid surface 12.5 millimeters across, about the width of a finger,” said Moore.

Experiment shows that a nuclear explosion could save the planet from a deadly asteroid impact Nature Physics A blast of X-rays from a nuclear explosion should be enough to save Earth from an incoming asteroid,

Exploding a nuclear bomb above a huge asteroid could vaporize its surface using X-rays, pushing the space rock away from Earth.