290 replies to this topic

[seeder]

Russia asks - How do you stop space objects hitting Earth?

Russia has found, to its cost, that it has no answers. But U.S. and European experts may be able to help with a few ideas that at first glance seem straight out of science fiction, including smashing spacecraft into asteroids, using the sun's rays to vaporise them, or blasting them with nuclear bombs.

and

For all their nuclear missiles, he said that neither the United States nor Russia could shoot down such meteors. Even President Vladimir Putin held up his hands, saying no country was able to protect against such events.

But there is hope for Russia as it looks for a solution. Last week's near miss from an asteroid half the size of a football field, the same day as the meteor explosion, has heightened awareness of the dangers Earth faces.

At a conference in Vienna on Monday, scientists said it was time for man to do more to spot objects hurtling towards the planet and to counter their threat.

LASER BEAMS AND GRAVITY TRACTORS  (cont reading)

http://uk.news.yahoo...-213157680.html

[Waspie_Dwarf]

seeder, on 17 February 2013 - 05:25 PM, said:

As I know little about things like these, do they shatter on impact with the cold lake water, going from red hot to cold?  Im wondering if it will be in many pieces and harder to find..

Actually the inside of a meteorite can still be cold. The outer surface of the meteorite is heated and vaporises. As it does so it carries away excess heat, this in turn exposes fresh, cold surface material, which is then lost in the same way. This is a process known as ablation and it is how the heat shields on spacecraft such as Apollo worked. Obviously if the object is too small it will burn up before hitting the ground, but if it is larger it will make it to the surface.

This is one of the reasons that fresh meteorites are so sought after by scientists. Because of this ablation process only the outer crust of the meteorite is affected by re-entry. Inside the meteorite is in pristine condition, just as it was in space

Edited by Waspie_Dwarf, 19 February 2013 - 02:01 PM.

[Frank Merton]

From the news broadcasts I understood why the bulk of the object that made the large whole in the lake hadn't been recovered was that the ice had pretty much reformed over it within an hour of the even.  We will have to wait till spring unless the Russians decide to make a major effort, and that seems hardly worth it.

[seeder]

Frank Merton, on 19 February 2013 - 02:01 PM, said:

From the news broadcasts I understood why the bulk of the object that made the large whole in the lake hadn't been recovered was that the ice had pretty much reformed over it within an hour of the even.  We will have to wait till spring unless the Russians decide to make a major effort, and that seems hardly worth it.

And by sheer co-incidence I was on space.com and a story says NASA now believes it was MUCH bigger than first thought

"The meteor was also substantially more massive than thought as well. Initial estimated pegged the space rock's mass at about 7,000 tons. Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., now say the meteor weighed about 10,000 tons and was travelling 40,000 mph (64,373 km/h) when it exploded.


http://www.space.com... Headline Feed)

[AsteroidX]

I like JPL. Ive been to JPL. They have cool stuff at JPL and work with Cal Tech students on there graduate projects. One of those students let my son drive a prototype rover.

Edited by AsteroidX, 19 February 2013 - 02:25 PM.

[Tutankhaten-pasheri]

Coffey, on 19 February 2013 - 01:32 PM, said:

The round object is part of the car windshield. You see them both earlier on in the video if that's supposed to tbe the UFO. As for the missile thing etc, is that 100% fake?

One of the comments in Russian tells the guy to clean his $%*! windscreen!. And I think the missile like object is fake 100%. Archimedes post nails all this nonsense I think

[regeneratia]

You know what is the best thing that comes from this event, the idea that we should all have dash cameras.
I have always said that you should always have a dig cam, with video capacity, in your pocket at all times, just to keep things honest. I am convinced that this is one of the ways we can fight back against the fables our government tells us, which is why there are dash cams in Russia, to keep things honest.

Edited by regeneratia, 19 February 2013 - 03:05 PM.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Russia asteroid impact: ESA update and assessment

www.esa.int said:

19 February 2013 The first firm details of the 15 February asteroid impact in Russia, the largest in more than a century, are becoming clear. ESA is carefully assessing the information as crucial input for developing the Agency’s asteroid-hunting effort.

At 03:20 GMT on 15 February, a natural object entered the atmosphere and disintegrated in the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia.

Extensive video records indicate a northeast to southwest path at a shallow angle of 20° above the horizontal. The entry speed is estimated at around 18 km/s – more than 64 000 km/h.

According to calculations by Peter Brown at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, drawing on extremely low-frequency sound waves detected by a global network, the object is estimated to have been about 17 m across with a mass of 7000–10 000 tonnes when it hit atmosphere.

It exploded with a force of nearly 500 kilotons of TNT – some 30 times the energy released by the Hiroshima atomic bomb – around 15–20 km above the ground.

With our current understanding of near-Earth objects, events of this magnitude are expected once every several of tens to 100 years.


Read more...

[Frank Merton]

regeneratia, on 19 February 2013 - 03:05 PM, said:

You know what is the best thing that comes from this event, the idea that we should all have dash cameras.

Insurance companies will love it -- if nothing else eliminate a lot of litigation.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Russian Police Seize ‘Meteorite Fragments’ For Sale

RIA Novosti said:

MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - Police in the Chelyabinsk Region have confiscated an unidentified substance from a local man who was trying to sell it as a “meteorite fragment,” regional police told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

Spokeswoman Anzhelika Chirkova said police had identified “a Chelyabinsk Region resident, born in 1984, who was trying to sell about 60 grams of a substance via the Internet as a meteorite fragment.”

Read more...

[Tutankhaten-pasheri]

I think an element is missing for non Russian speakers, and that is what people say on these videos. I know you can guess as I think anybody will say similar things. Still, I think it adds to the growing story of the almost complete lack of panic and hysteria by people of Chelyabinsk. Comments on videos shot inside schools are very complimentary on the calm and discipline shown by pupils, and there is a general view that people of Chelyabinsk have shown a good face to the world.

The uploader of this video has sort of disguised some words, though not all, and it is very clear what is being said. Also he has not translated everything as there is a lot of swearing. Not for "delicate" ears, or eyes

Edited by Atentutankh-pasheri, 19 February 2013 - 05:22 PM.

[seeder]

Waspie_Dwarf, on 19 February 2013 - 04:59 PM, said:

Russian Police Seize 'Meteorite Fragments' For Sale

I think its a bit out of order myself. If a meteor breaks into hundreds of pieces, and you find a bit,  then who can say you cant have it? Its no-ones property really is it? But if the Russian cops wanted to be sure he wasn't defrauding folk by selling 'other meteorite bits' on ebay, then I can understand that.  If I ever found one I'd for sure keep it. Unless it was one potentially worth a shedload of money to someone else! Funny enough many metal detector hunters find them

http://en.wikipedia....eteorite_hunter

Im getting one this year and it'd be cool to find something from outer space. (Cooler even more to find a pot of gold tho!)

[AsteroidX]

That roll of sonic booms is so eerie.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

seeder, on 19 February 2013 - 05:56 PM, said:

I think its a bit out of order myself. If a meteor breaks into hundreds of pieces, and you find a bit,  then who can say you cant have it? Its no-ones property really is it?

Did you read all of the article? This paragraph explains much:

Quote

Chirkova, the police spokeswoman, called on people not to buy the so-called fragments, as their composition and origin is unknown and they are being sold without any permits or certification.

[regeneratia]

Frank Merton, on 19 February 2013 - 04:42 PM, said:

Insurance companies will love it -- if nothing else eliminate a lot of litigation.

It would also keep people and the governments honest.