Massive Meteor Shower -Activates Russian Nuke Defense Systems

[Kaido]

Holy crap, that's amazing and that only after a few hours, we have 1080p videos of it online.

No kidding, there's a 16-minute video compilation on LiveLeak already! Crazy!

Those poor people I'm amazed that hardly anyone freaks out...

 

[Kaido]

Also does everyone film their daily commute in Russia?

Good article on Russian dashcams here:

http://jalopnik.com/5918159/why-russians-are-obsessed-with-dash+cams

 

[Kaido]

Gizmodo has some good live updating news:

http://gizmodo.com/5984476/meteorite-explodes-over-russia-panic-spreads-updating-live

The Russian Academy of Sciences has estimated that the meteorite weighed about 10 tons and entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 33,000 mph, shattering about 18-32 miles above ground.

Talk about timing - Gizmodo had just published an article entitled, "What Would Actually Happen if the Asteroid Hit Earth Today?" about 20 minutes before reporting on the Russian impact:

http://gizmodo.com/5984469/what-would-actually-happen-if-the-2012-da14-asteroid-crashed-for-real

 

[Thebobo]

 

[Jeff7]

LOL @ thinking a SAM is going to track and hit something moving that fast.

The US is the world leader in airborne interception, and we don't even have it down. And ICBMs are a tad slower.

Title is misleading, Russia is behind on MIRV defense, although the S-400 and S-500 can and will compete/exceed current Patriot 3 systems for non ICBM threats.

Yeah...I'm also thinking that's BS. Typically the only "warning" of something like this happening is when the sonic boom hits. Most air defense units can't track, launch, and hit something when they have negative 10 seconds of notice.
And you're not even chasing a simple and obvious missile, it's an insanely-fast rock, entirely shrouded in superheated air.

The Russian Academy of Sciences has estimated that the meteorite weighed about 10 tons and entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 33,000 mph, shattering about 18-32 miles above ground.

Ah, ok. So a 10-ton mass, likely rock, iron, and nickel - or even just a comet made of loose ice - moving at 33,000mph. Yeah, good luck with that.


But good god that was close. Wow.
I'm sure we'll never have to worry about any additional close calls or impacts from space. No need to fund anything meant to detect these sorts of things before they're streaming through the atmosphere...:|

 

[Kaido]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5FZfHbJRrc

 

[DrPizza]

My money's on this as well. People probably saw the meteorite explode and thought it was blown up by a missile. Meteorites blow up because the temperature change from deep space to earth entry. If there's a lot of water in them, they basically sound like popcorn popping.

I don't think so (it being because of the temperature.) I believe it's from the massive pressure/shock of it hitting the Earth's atmosphere. The temperature only changes at the surface, or very near to the surface. There simply isn't enough time for thermal conduction to significantly heat the interior.

For a similar problem: http://whatif.xkcd.com/28/
It describes in good enough detail & is fun to read.

 

[Gibsons]

How high can an SR-77 fly?

Edit: 85000 ft is what I wikigot, that's about 25 km. Russians still cannot shoot us down.

There are no working SR 71s.

 

[Nemesis13]

But good god that was close. Wow.
I'm sure we'll never have to worry about any additional close calls or impacts from space. No need to fund anything meant to detect these sorts of things before they're streaming through the atmosphere...:|

100% this

 

[IronWing]

And I predict a mob scene at the Tucson airport this morning as damn near every meteorite dealer on earth is currently sitting at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.

 

[jengriffin]

This is awesome! I'm glad there's no fatalities. I guess this verify the Tunguska event happened more than 100 years ago.

 

[purbeast0]

that is pretty damn awesome. imagine if you were on an airplane as that thing was passing by!

 

[Nintendesert]

But good god that was close. Wow.
I'm sure we'll never have to worry about any additional close calls or impacts from space. No need to fund anything meant to detect these sorts of things before they're streaming through the atmosphere...:|

Why? Why waste money on this? Do we have the technology to destroy or divert rocks like this yet in any sort of feasible way? If not there's no point in detecting them then.

People watch too many damn movies, just like the initial reaction that somehow those backwards ass Russians shot it down. Holy shit people.

 

[Ichinisan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOPjfrkLslI

It's like a miniature version of the Tunguska Event.

 

[Gibsons]

Why? Why waste money on this? Do we have the technology to destroy or divert rocks like this yet in any sort of feasible way? If not there's no point in detecting them then.

People watch too many damn movies, just like the initial reaction that somehow those backwards ass Russians shot it down. Holy shit people.

You can't do a real threat assessment without finding them first. You can't hope to deflect them in time if you don't find them first.

The basic technology to deflect them exists, we've done flybys of comets, the radar tech is good enough. But it's a long way from happening, both in funding and just designing and building stuff.

 

[Nintendesert]

You can't do a real threat assessment without finding them first. You can't hope to deflect them in time if you don't find them first.

The basic technology to deflect them exists, we've done flybys of comets, the radar tech is good enough. But it's a long way from happening, both in funding and just designing and building stuff.

That's just it, until there's even a remotely feasible way of diverting these rocks any sort of detection is pointless.

Not only that but we're going to take telescope time away from real scientific research for this pie in the sky bullshit. Unless the intent is to fund the construction of more telescopes...

 

[CZroe]

I clicked through the OPs links and saw nothing of the Russian Nuke Defense systems. What link should I be reading?

 

[ViviTheMage]

So it was shot outta the sky? Is that why it blew?

 

[Gothgar]

Cool

 

[randomrogue]

That never happened. When this started people were jibber yabbing about stupid shit since Russia's largest nuclear research facility or storage facility is located around there.

 

[ichy]

That's just it, until there's even a remotely feasible way of diverting these rocks any sort of detection is pointless.

Nukes are a perfectly feasible way of diverting asteroids. If you have years of warning it doesn't take much delta-v to alter their course enough so that they don't hit the Earth.

 

[preslove]

Why? Why waste money on this? Do we have the technology to destroy or divert rocks like this yet in any sort of feasible way? If not there's no point in detecting them then.

People watch too many damn movies, just like the initial reaction that somehow those backwards ass Russians shot it down. Holy shit people.

You are a fucking idiot.

And the tech to divert asteroids is feasible. It's just expensive. A shit ton less expensive than a larger asteroid causing trillions and trillions of dollars worth of damage.

 

[DesiPower]

So Russia now has superman, damn we are screwed...

 

[preslove]

So Russia now has superman, damn we are screwed...

 

[benzylic]

Russians love their conspiracy theories

51% of Russians believe this is the start of an alien invasion

m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldvie...flourishing-in-russia-about-meteor-explosion/

Edit: Russian parliament member says it was actually a American weapons test http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/w...-says-meteor-was-actually-a-u-s-weapons-test/