Firstly, Titan missiles were all retired in the early 80s. They should have called them Minuteman. But that's not my beef. If the US, Russia, China and all the other nuclear powers were to launch simultaneously at the asteroid, I find it hard to believe that thousands of warheads wouldn't have broken it apart, or at the very least, changed its path.
shareLikely explanations:
i. These things don't carry the fuel to travel for the distances involved here.
ii. Similarly, their earth bound nav systems aren't set up to go off into space.
iii. The risk of a missile crashing back to earth, blowing up in its launch bay, etc. One of the reasons that nuclear power has been slow to catch on is what to do with the depleted fuel. It was proposed decades that it could be launched into space, but no country wanted to take the risk that an accident could result in radioactive material falling back to earth in a spread pattern. It's a small risk, but the consequences are so catastrophic that it was rejected.
iv. "Broken it apart"... Exactly why such a plan has been rejected in real life. Instead of one or two big-ass pieces coming in, you now have a vast debris field of material hurtling towards earth, with no means or time to accurately calculated the impact points.
The first two issues MIGHT be able to be solved given enough advance time... AND cooperation/ trust between historic enemies. However, look how long it is taking to get back to the moon. When it comes to doing s**t in space, it's a technological challenge.
My thoughts exactly
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