An excellent discussion of the national security dimensions of the asteroid threat from a roundtable at the Marshall Institute. Transcript of discussion includes question and answer session.
A leading space scientist is warning that small asteroids from space that detonate like bombs as they crash into Earth's atmosphere might accidentally set off a nuclear war.
The editors of Florida Today argue that the U.S. defense department should share its early warning data with new nuclear powers to help prevent miscalculations caused by meteor impacts.
Scientists warn that even small asteroids that explode in earth's atmospher pose a threat because they could be mistaken as a nuclear weapon explosion by countries that lack the technology to tell the difference. They point to a June 6th incident that could have created a miscalculation during a tense period in the India/Pakistan conflict.
U.S. Brigadier General Simon P. Worden makes a case for sustained military involvement in the search for potentially hazardous asteroids. He argues that military technology is key to detecting small to medium-sized asteroids that could be misperceived as nuclear explosions in volatile areas.
In recent years, the Department of Defense has been working to provide data about asteroid strikes to nations potentially under missile attack and to the scientific community; however, it takes several weeks for the data to be released since much of it is gathered from classified systems. Brigadier General Simon P. Worden has recently suggested that a NEO warning center be established that can assess and release this data as soon as possible to all interested parties while ensuring sensitive data is safeguarded.
Leon Jaroff argues that more attention should be paid to small asteroid as they could be mistaken for a nuclear attack.
A general with the U.S. Space Command is calling for a global early warning system for meteor explosions so that nuclear wars aren't started by mistake.
The Principal Scientific Adviser to the Centre, R. Chidambaram, dismissed as "unfounded" fears expressed by anti-nuclear weapon activists that asteroids entering the earth's atmosphere could trigger a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
A small asteroid exploding in the Earth's atmosphere could accidentally cause a nuclear war if "trigger-happy" nations mistook it for a first strike attack, experts have warned. Each year about 30 asteroids measuring a few yards across pierce the atmosphere and explode. Even the small ones can release as much energy as the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima.