Asteroids, despite what certain famous movies might lead you to believe, aren’t all massive, solid pieces of rock. Instead, they’re clusters of rubble and dust held together by… something. Though previously believed to be held together by friction and gravity, researchers at UT Knoxville found near-Earth asteroid 1950 DA spinning so quickly that it defies both of those forces. And yet, it remains intact. The reason? Van der Waals forces.

Astute readers may note that van der Walls forces are the same mechanism by which the nimble gecko clings upside down with adhesion sufficient to suspend 50 times its body weight. The forces may be small and weak, but they’re effective.

“We found that 1950 DA is rotating faster than the breakup limit for its density,” said Ben Rozitis, a postdoctoral researcher. “So if just gravity were holding this rubble pile together, as is generally assumed, it would fly apart. Therefore, interparticle cohesive forces must be holding it together.”

This is the first definitive evidence of such forces at play in asteroids, which had only been hypothesized previously.

The implications of the findings are huge, especially in terms of avoiding catastrophe here on Earth. Breaking up an impending asteroid might not require a sending a team of grizzled oil riggers into space. Instead, a massive object might be launched at the asteroid, providing enough force to overcome the tenuous forces keeping it intact.

Asteroids may not be the only space rocks to exist by the grace of van der Waals forces – when Rosetta touches down on its target comet, it may find similar physics at work.