A scientist from Iowa State University, Bong Wie, has said that nuclear disarmament may actually put humanity in danger.
According to a report on Space.com, he told the 2014 NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts meeting that the nuclear bombs could be used to destroy asteroids and space rocks headed for earth.
Wie said his research group was in the process of developing a concept spacecraft called Hypervelocity Asteroid Intercept Vehicle (HAIV), which could be blasted into space to meet the threat and blast a crater into the asteroid with a kinetic impactor, News.com.au reported.
The nuclear bomb, which would be a millisecond behind the HAIV will then detonate inside the crater, and shatter it into millions of tiny pieces. Wie said that the project can work with less than a week's warning.