The Chicxulub asteroid impact triggered mass extinction, mega-tsunamis and a spell of global warming that lasted for around 100,000 years. Although the recent Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission by NASA demonstrated that near-Earth objects can be successfully targeted, deflecting the most dangerous asteroids will require energy concentrations akin to nuclear explosions. However, targets suitable for practice missions are scarce. Here we demonstrate the simulation of asteroid deflection with an X-ray pulse from a dense argon plasma generated at the Z machine, a pulsed power device at Sandia National Laboratories. We use so-called X-ray scissors to place surrogate asteroidal material into free space, simultaneously severing supports and vapourizing the target surface. The ensuing explosion accelerates the mock asteroidal material in a scaled asteroid intercept mission. Deflection velocities of around 70 m s^–1 for silica targets agree with radiation-hydrodynamic model predictions. We scale these results to proposed interceptor energies and predict that asteroids up to a diameter of (4 ± 1) km can be deflected with this mechanism, showing a viable way to prepare for future planetary defence missions.

希克苏鲁伯小行星撞击引发了大规模灭绝、特大海啸和持续约 10 万年的全球变暖。尽管美国宇航局最近的双小行星重定向测试任务证明可以成功瞄准近地天体，但偏转最危险的小行星将需要类似于核爆炸的能量集中。然而，适合练习任务的目标却很少。在这里，我们演示了利用来自 Z 机（桑迪亚国家实验室的脉冲功率设备）产生的密集氩等离子体的 X 射线脉冲来模拟小行星偏转。我们使用所谓的 X 射线剪刀将替代小行星材料放入自由空间，同时切断支撑并蒸发目标表面。随后的爆炸会加速小行星拦截任务中的模拟小行星物质。二氧化硅目标的偏转速度约为 70 ms ^{–1 ，}与辐射流体动力学模型的预测一致。我们将这些结果缩放到建议的拦截器能量，并预测直径最大为（4±1）公里的小行星可以通过这种机制偏转，这为未来的行星防御任务提供了一种可行的方法。