Solar-powered lasers could zap asteroids

London: Engineers are developing an innovative laser-based technique to zap asteroids with greater probability of success. This could prevent asteroids from exploding on earth.

The technique hinges on a flotilla of smaller satellites simultaneously firing solar-powered lasers at an asteroid, overcoming difficulties linked with current methods relying on large unwieldy spacecraft.

Massimiliano Vasile, mechanical and aerospace engineer at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, who is heading the project, said: "The approach we are developing would involve sending small satellites, capable of flying in formation with the asteroid and firing their lasers targeting the asteroid at close range.

"The use of high power lasers in space for civil and commercial applications is in its infancy and one of the main challenges is to have high power, high efficiency and high beam quality all at the same time," he said, according to a Strathclyde statement.