Los Alamos Asteroid Killer

LANL scientists use the Cielo supercomputer to model effects of nuclear energy source on Earth-threatening asteroid.

The newest supercomputer at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Cielo, is currently working on classified nuclear weapons physics problems. However, it is sometimes used to do fascinating unclassified science when a computer model is so large that it can't be run on a smaller platform.

One of the unclassified models that ran recently on Cielo -- a 1.35 petaflop/s machine built by Cray -- was a model by Robert Weaver of Theoretical Design Applications Physics that looked at how 1 megaton nuclear energy source might effect the granular asteriod Itokawa as a way to prevent a potential asteriod impact with Earth.

The video was originally shown at the most recent SC11 Supercomputing Conference in Seattle.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Asteroid
• earth impact
• nuclear explosion
• nuclear energy source
• Itokawa
• killer asteroid

[v000000000000v]

@ReservoirDog22 Most of the small rocks should be burned out when they hit the atmosphere of the earth

[akirafactor]

How is that "Fire" over there.

[Foxtrot202]

wiener at 2:06

[difficultjuggernaut]

Does anyone try this in vacum? I dont thinks so.

[MikhailBelik]

Не все однозначно в жизни: в крови, например, имеются клетки-убийцы (лимфоциты Т-киллеры и их помощники, Т-хелперы), которые защищают от инфекций и онкологических мутаций.

[ReservoirDog22]

So instead of being hit by one big Asteroid we'll be hit by a million smaller rocks falling to Earth?

Wow that's just great. -_-

[skinni45]

Nuclear detonation releases monstrous energy (heat), but in the vacuum of space will do absolutely jack shit.

[moveaxebx]

@Armyless1

Any material can propagate shockwave...not just air...even solids like rock.

But with solids, shockwave will loose energy more rapidly then with air.

[legoy4life]

obvious a way to say. We're gonna fuck earth over.

[yurianne07]

have the chinese hacked this technology too?