So apparently, while we’re all waiting for asteroid 2012 DA14 to zip by in 12 hours or so, a decent-sized meteor we didn’t expect or detect almost made it to the ground in one piece in Russia.
This post is pretty Youtube-heavy.
Check out the sonic boom and the resulting exploding-window-glass problem from the ground view:
So, with all that in mind…
This should be a wake-up call about funding the space program (both manned and unmanned) and funding Near Earth Object (NEO) search/detection programs. This was a lucky near-miss – I’m not sure we want to find out what a less lucky near-miss (let’s say, for the sake of argument, Tunguska) would do to a populated area like this.
Or, as I tweeted in the wee hours of this morning:
Just a little something to think about. Priorities. One of these, big enough to make it to the ground and hitting in a heavily populated area, would make a lot of the other political infighting with which we tie ourselves up meaningless in – literally – a flash.
