Media: Missile defense systems cannot intercept meteorites\Source: World News

The explosive power far exceeds that of a nuclear bomb, and advanced missile defense weapons cannot intercept it\ Reporter/Wei Dongxu\ Russia Correspondent/Yan Xi\ A dazzling flash lit up the sky, a radiant fireball with a long trail of thick smoke streaked across the heavens, and a massive explosion shattered the glass on buildings' windows... On February 15, Beijing time, several regions in Russia's Ural area and Central Cuba's Cienfuegos Province were hit by meteorites, resulting in over a thousand injuries and substantial damage to buildings. Shortly after the meteor shower, astronomers observed that a small asteroid, about half the size of a football field, passed close to Earth in the early morning of February 16, Beijing time.\ In the face of these extremely dangerous extraterrestrial visitors, humanity, despite possessing numerous advanced scientific technologies, is helpless. Yuri Makarov, Director of the Strategic Planning and Special Programs Bureau of the Russian Federal Space Agency, stated that tracking meteorites with existing methods is almost impossible. Military commentator Song Zhongping told a reporter from World News that intercepting meteorites heading toward Earth is far more difficult than intercepting ballistic missiles or striking satellites. Even countries with mature missile defense technology, such as the United States, Russia, and China, are powerless against these meteorites. Currently, the most feasible approach is ‘early detection, early warning, early designation of danger zones, and early avoidance.'\ The enormous disaster that cannot be forewarned\ According to TASS, the meteorites entered Russian territory from the skies over Kazakhstan. On the morning of the 15th, Tyumen Oblast, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Chelyabinsk Oblast, and Kurgan Oblast were struck by the meteor showers. The hardest-hit area, Chelyabinsk Oblast, had approximately 3,000 buildings damaged, with 1,145 people injured by broken glass. The governor of the oblast, Mikhail Yurevich, said that the economic damage caused by the meteor shower exceeded 1 billion rubles (approximately 200 million RMB). Local residents still recall the meteor attack with lingering fear. Igor Chudnovsky said: 'I heard an explosion and felt the entire building shake. I also saw a light, which looked like the explosion of a nuclear bomb in a documentary.' Some terrified residents even mistakenly thought a nuclear war had broken out. An eyewitness in Yekaterinburg said: 'A bright light appeared, and I thought it was a U.S. nuclear missile, thinking I was about to die.' In fact, the meteorite that struck the Ural region was far more terrifying than a nuclear bomb.The latest data released by NASA show that the troublesome meteorite has a diameter of 17 meters and weighs 10,000 tons. After entering the atmosphere, its explosion was equivalent to 30 times the power of the atomic bomb that exploded over Hiroshima in 1945. Scientists believe that this meteorite impact is the most severe the Earth has experienced since the 1908 Tunguska explosion in Russia. || At the other end of the Earth, Cuba was also hit by a meteorite. According to Cuba's national television, on the evening of the 14th local time (15th Beijing time), a meteorite fell in the town of Rodas in the central Cienfuegos province. A fisherman in Rodas told the station that they saw a dazzling light suddenly flash across the sky, about the size of a bus, which then turned into a flame "bigger than the sun," and three to four minutes later they heard a huge explosion. It is reported that a team of Cuban astronomers has already rushed to Rodas to search for possible meteorite debris on the ground. \ It is unclear whether the meteorite falls in Russia and Cuba are related, but the day after these two events, an asteroid about 46 meters in diameter passed by Earth closely. NASA said that the orbit of the meteorite that struck Russia is significantly different from that of this asteroid, indicating that they are two completely unrelated celestial bodies. Preliminary analysis shows that the meteorite moved from northeast to southwest, whereas the asteroid's orbit direction is the opposite. However, this asteroid serves as a warning to humanity. According to Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao on February 17, scientists only identified the orbit of this asteroid a year ago. If the Earth were actually in its orbital path, even immediate measures to change its direction would be too late. It is reported that this dangerous asteroid travels at 8 kilometers per second, with a closest distance to Earth of only 27,600 kilometers. Scientists believe that there are as many as 500,000 to 1,000,000 celestial bodies of similar size to this asteroid near Earth, but only 1% have been discovered. Former U.S. astronaut Schweickart has long warned that NASA should invest more manpower and resources to strengthen the detection and tracking of near-Earth asteroids. Schweickart said that while the possibility of Earth being hit by a celestial body without warning is "very low," smaller meteorites still pose a threat because "before the impact, we know nothing about the situation."|| Humans Still Lack the Ability to 'Hunt Stars'\ Currently, humans still lack a practical and feasible way to deal with celestial bodies heading towards Earth; tracking and intercepting meteorites is extremely difficult. According to RIA Novosti, it is not surprising that scientists failed to detect the meteorite that struck Russia in advance. The report stated that ground-based telescopes can only detect objects with a large enough size to reflect sufficient light, while the meteorite that appeared over Russia was not only relatively small in size but also flew against the sunlight, making it impossible to detect the meteorite in advance with a telescope due to the strong glare of the sun. Markov, the head of a research laboratory at the Astronomy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said, 'Our American counterparts did not warn us about this meteorite fall; I suspect they themselves did not notice this meteorite heading towards Earth either.' Yuri Makarov, head of the Strategic Planning and Special Programs Bureau of the Russian Federal Space Agency, stated that tracking celestial bodies like the 'Ural meteorite' with existing methods is almost impossible. He emphasized, 'The scientific community's understanding of these celestial bodies is still relatively low, and after a meteorite enters the dense atmosphere, it is almost impossible to track it with current methods.'\ Military commentator Song Zhongping told a reporter from World News that several military powers already have the capability to intercept long-range missiles and strike satellites, but none have the ability to provide early warning or intercept meteorites heading towards Earth. Song explained that after a meteorite enters the atmosphere, it flies with uncontrolled acceleration at a speed far greater than that of a ballistic missile, which requires controlled direction and attitude adjustment; some meteorites even explode after entering the atmosphere, making it extremely difficult for intercept missiles to defend against them.\ Destroying asteroids may even require the use of nuclear bombs. In the Hollywood blockbuster 'Armageddon,' Bruce Willis's character used a nuclear bomb to destroy an asteroid about to collide with Earth. In the real world, scientists have similar ideas. Wei Bang of Iowa State University said, 'For last-minute emergency missions, using nuclear explosions to destroy an asteroid is the only feasible plan.' Wei Bang's Asteroid Deflection Research Center is designing a nuclear missile capable of destroying dangerous asteroids or comets for NASA. To destroy an asteroid, the nuclear device must explode inside it, not on the surface.Therefore, the interceptor designed by Wei Bang will be divided into two parts: the front half first detonates on the asteroid to create an impact crater, and the back half then detonates the nuclear bomb deep inside the crater. Song Zhongping pointed out that using nuclear missiles to precisely destroy an asteroid, significantly reducing its fragments and altering its original trajectory, is considered an effective solution. However, a nuclear explosion outside the atmosphere could cause fatal damage to some artificial satellites, and some nuclear contaminants might also fall onto the Earth's surface.