A meteor burst over Russia's Ural Mountains earlier this year
Sonic boom left 1,200 injured and thousands of buildings damaged
Researcher claims missile could destroy similar rock before it hit earth
It sounds like a plot lifted from a sci-fi disaster movie.
A Russian scientist has said a Soviet-era ballistic missile system dubbed 'Satan' should be put back into use defending the earth from asteroids.
Senior rocket researcher Sabit Saitgarayev - who spoke out after a meteor burst over Russia's Ural Mountains earlier this year damaging thousands of buildings - said the old 1960s missiles were ideally suited to destroying any potential threats streaking towards the planet from space.
Back in use? The scientist suggested the old Soviet-era SS9 ICBM missiles should be put back to work protecting the earth from meteorites
It created a sonic boom that shattered windows and damaged thousands of buildings around the city of Chelyabinsk.
Threat: The researcher said the missiles - named Satan by NATO - were well suited to 'fighting suddenly discovered small [space] objects'
'Well-suited': The Soviet-era missiles could intercept a falling missile with a mere 20 minutes' warning, Mr Saitgarayev claimed
He pointed out that the missiles could be kept poised and ready to launch for up to a decade.
It means a missile could be launched against an approaching asteroid with a mere 20 minutes warning, in contrast to modern missile systems, which require several days of preparation ahead of a launch.
Comment: and just how much warning time did we get for the Chelyabinsk event !? Zero.
Scientists claimed the meteorite that exploded over the Urals was the biggest space rock to hit earth in more than a century.
The enormous meteorite weighed an estimated 100,000 tons and measured around 55ft in diameter.
Mr Saitgarayev claimed Satan missiles would be capable of destroying objects with a diameter of up to around 300ft. If equipped with a booster, the 1960s missile would be able to destroy a space object hurtling towards earth while it was still five to six hours away, he said.
Satan missiles can be used for destroying small space objects with a diameter of up to 100 meters threatening the Earth, if the missile is equipped with the third stage. If reequipped with a booster, the missile will be able to destroy space objects five-six hours before their collision with the Earth, he said.
There have been at least five sizable 'space rocks' documented to hit Earth since Tunguska (and these are only the ones we know about). Here's a link to two of them:
[Link]
This stuff does not happen 'once a century'. Start at 'once a decade' and work down from there.