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Asteroid laser ablation is a proposed method for deflecting asteroids, involving the use of a laser array to alter the orbit of an asteroid. Laser ablation works by heating up a substance enough to allow gaseous material to eject, either through sublimation or vaporization. For most asteroids this process occurs between temperatures in the range of 2,700–3,000 K. The ejecting material creates a thrust, which over an extended period of time can change the trajectory of the asteroid. As a proof of concept on a small scale, Travis Brashears, a researcher at UC Santa Barbara's Experimental Cosmology Lab, led by Dr. Philip Lubin, has already experimentally verified that laser ablation can de-spin and spin-up an asteroid. Further testing and development of this method are being done by groups at UC Santa Barbara, NASA and the University of Strathclyde.

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