What would happen if we detonated a nuclear weapon on the Moon? It creates the tide and changes our tilt by dragging along oceans, but do we really need it? Absolutely not, according to one American academic. Destroying the Moon was Iowa State University mathematics professor Alexander Abian’s unusual solution to life’s problems, since he felt that blowing up our planetary companion would solve practically all of humanity’s problems. In a college newspaper in 1991, he proposed the Moonless Earth Theory.
According to People, Abian wrote, “You construct a gigantic hole by deep drilling, then you throw atomic explosion there.” “And you destroy it – from Earth, by remote control.” Some have suggested that using nuclear weapons to blow up hazardous objects in orbit may be a way to get rid of any nuisance asteroids that threaten to wipe us out like the dinosaurs. Oil driller Bruce Willis and his band of merry men did precisely that in the hit film Armageddon, but the strategy has gained traction outside of Hollywood.
Dr. Amy Mainzer, a consultant on don’t Look Up and a Professor of Planetary Science at NASA, keeps an eye on “Near Earth Objects” (NEOs). She and her team utilize a space telescope to search for asteroids and comets, including those that potentially pose a threat to Earth, as lead investigators for NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) project.
Following a hazardous meteoroid that struck Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013, hurting about 1,500 people, the US, Russia, and the EU have leaped into preparing for NEOs. Some argue that nuclear weapons are our greatest protection, and the Independent reported that the US and Russia were discussing partnering on a nuclear planetary defense effort. However, blowing up the Moon is not on anyone’s to-do list. Why would anyone even consider such a thing? It would be a manner of controlling the weather, according to Abian.
He reasoned that an Earth without a moon wouldn’t wobble, referring to the Earth’s tilt changing every 21,000 years. In Abian’s universe, this would abolish the seasons, allowing us to ignore tricky current weather phenomena like hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and blizzards. Isn’t that appealing? However, if that group at NASA is to be believed, it would all end in tears. According to them, blowing up the nearest planet to us would very certainly result in a large NEO in the shape of a wedge of Moon slamming into Earth, obliterating all life.
It might theoretically solve all of our issues, but not in the way Abian had hoped. The dreamer, on the other hand, was not discouraged by his critics. He is claimed to have observed, “Those people who say, ‘Dismiss Abian’s views,’ are quite akin to those who discarded Galileo.”
