Russia have announced plans to develop nuclear weapons that will be capable of saving humanity in the event of asteroids hitting the Earth. Russian scientists are developing nuclear warheads to deal with the ever-increasing threat of armageddon poised by the giant pieces of space rock. A team of scientists have been asked by an EU-sponsored program, NEOShield, to develop weapons to protect the planet. Sputniknews.com reports: According to a press release by the Russian Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building (TsNIIMash) — a part of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency specializing in the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, air defense missiles, and their propulsion units — NEOShield tasked science teams from various countries with developing effective anti-asteroid countermeasures, and that “work on deflecting dangerous space objects with nuclear explosions was conducted by Russia” between 2012 and 2015, the newspaper adds. Despite the fact that the existing international space treaties prohibit the deployment of nuclear ordnance in space, scientists believe that if some wayward celestial body were to pose a clear and present danger to Earth, such restrictions would be waived. According to the researchers, the most effective and safest way to deal with a potentially dangerous Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) would be to intercept them in deep space and to alter the asteroid’s course via a nuclear detonation instead of attempting to completely obliterate it. As part of its [...]