RUSSIA reveals plans to defend the planet from devastating asteroids by nuking them with huge space warheads. Researchers believe an explosion set off in space near a large hypothetical asteroid headed for Earth could save the mankind from disaster by altering its trajectory.

While there are currently international laws in place prohibiting nuclear detonations in space, Russian scientists believe these would be dropped in the case of a potentially catastrophic collision. Its International Scientific Community Central Engineering Research Institute said: "Such bans are naturally going to be dropped." It rejected claims such an explosion would in fact just create smaller asteroids, which would cause devastation across a larger area. The scientists said: "In this case a nuclear blast is conducted in such a way that the asteroid does not disintegrate into smaller pieces.

Worries are growing about the impact a huge asteroid could have if it struck Earth, with organisations across the planet looking into ways to avoid disaster. NEOShield is an international consortium tasked with creating ways to protect the earth in the case of such an event, while NASA runs a similar Near Earth Object program which monitors large space objects which could potentially be dangerous to Earth. NASA is also thought to be developing a huge space 'shotgun' capable of knocking asteroids off course. However, it may already be too late to deflect a potentially world-ending object. A rock measuring 500 meters across would need to be targeted 100 years before it was due to hit earth in order to change its direction in time.

According to Russia's Emergency Ministry, within the next 35 years at least 11 large asteroids will come within hazardous proximity of the planet. The last major impact occurred 66 million years ago and led to the extinction of two-thirds of all plant and animal species on the planet, including the dinosaurs.