Asteroid Threat Underestimated!

Studies show that a threat similar to the asteroid that struck Russia last year could occur at a much higher rate than previously thought.

Scientists recommend establishing an early detection system.

The asteroid that struck Russia on February 15th this year was 19 meters in size. When it entered the atmosphere and exploded, it had the force of 500,000 tons of TNT, and the shock wave it created was felt around the world, twice that amount.

Scientists think that the danger from an asteroid of this size could be much greater.

In their research, scientists used subsonic sensors used by the US government to detect nuclear-tipped missiles in many parts of the world.

These detectors can detect nuclear weapons as well as these asteroid explosions.

And the data obtained turned out to be much more than expected, with 60 asteroids up to 20 meters in size exploding in the Earth's atmosphere in the last 20 years.

Most went undetected because they fell either over the ocean or in desolate areas uninhabited by humans.

This study showed that the threat had been underestimated and that the asteroid threat was 10 times greater than previously thought.

Professor Brown said: "With the telescopic information we have, I might have thought the disaster in Russia would happen once every 150 years, but with this new information it turns out that it actually happens at least once every 30 years."

Source:

Bbc News-Chelyabinsk meteor: Space rock hit-rate 'underestimated'