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A ten thousand ton meteorite today blew up over the Russian Urals with the force of an atomic bomb of 500 kilotons causing 1200 injuries and damaging 3000 buildings in the city of Chelyabinks according to the Russian Interior Ministry.
The meteorite explosion preceded by a few hours the near miss of the much larger Asteroid 2012 DA14 whose impact would have been far more catastrophic.
The close timing between the two events led to some scientists claiming that they were related. Not so according to NASA which released a statement saying that the meteorite and Asteroid 2012 DA14 were entirely unconnected.
More controversial are claims by Russian MP, Vladimir Zhirinovsky who told the Russian media that the meteorite was in fact a U.S. weapons test.
While widely regarded as an extreme rightwing Russian nationalist given to making provocative claims by the Western media, Zhirinovsky does raise some important questions.
Do elements of the U.S. military possess weapons that could simulate a meteorite falling over major cities? If so, then such weapons could indeed be used to intimidate nations into following policies against their national interests as Zhirinovsky was suggesting.
First, let’s begin with Zhirinovsky’s comments.
He told Russia’s state controlled RIA news:
Most controversially he went on to say:
Zhirinovsky’s claims might be easily dismissed as the scientifically illiterate comments of an extreme Russian nationalist.
Yet, he does have a point that wars are often instigated by shadowy groups using false flag events to intimidate nations and provoke wars. So we now get to the core of Zhirinovsky’s claims.
Does the U.S. military have the technology to simulate a meteorite impact or direct an actual meteor from its space trajectory over specific regions or cities over Earth?
According to what is publicly known about U.S. military capabilities no such technology exists. There are however classified military technologies secretly deployed in space that could redirect or imitate a meteor detonating over specific regions of the planet.
Contrary to general public knowledge, there is strong evidence of a secret space fleet, controlled in part by elements of the U.S. military that is capable of interplanetary flight using sophisticated antigravity technologies.
In his memoirs, Former President Ronald Reagan in fact referred to a secret space shuttle program that could fly 300 people:
In regard to antigravity technologies, these have been clearly demonstrated to both exist, and to have been developed in classified military programs.
Using antigravity technologies, one of the vehicles belonging to this secret space fleet could approach and change the inertia (something regarded as impossible by the currently known laws of science) of a meteor, asteroid or comet in order to move it out of its normal space trajectory.
Antigravity technology could therefore be used to direct meteors, or simulate a meteorite impact using other space objects, over nations for political purposes. Indeed, redirecting a meteor or asteroid in this way to cause regional destruction on Earth, could be used as a false flag event to warn nations against pursuing certain policies.
Such an event would generate a new set of global threats that absorb public attention and future government funding, as occurred with the September 11, 2001 attack which has been claimed to have involved classified space weapons.
Finally, what of the timing of the meteorite impact and today’s asteroid pass? Is there a connection?
In this regard, NASA says:
While there may be no direct physical connection, the timing of the two events does create a clear psychological association, and suggests a possible political connection.
Psychologically, the two events have been associated by their close timing, only a few hours apart. The attention of the world public and media has been directed to a destructive meteorite impact at virtually the same time of a near miss by an asteroid, something that would have been far more destructive if it impacted.
The world public and leaderships will predictably give more serious attention to the threat posed by asteroids and other Near Earth Objects.
Politically, if the meteorite impact was created by elements of the U.S. military, then the timing of the meteor impact and asteroid flyby was meant to send a clear political message to Russian leaders. The Chelyabinsk region is only 900 miles from Moscow and has long been a hub for the Russian military and defense industries.
Zhirinovsky could be correct.
The meteor may have been a warning to the Russian Federation to change policies that are inconsistent with U.S. policy, or else in future something from space might impact with far more catastrophic consequences.
Update: 2/16/12
NASA and space scientists have significantly revised upwards the initial calculations for the meteor's size, weight and impact power first released by Russian authorities, and revised upwards by space scientists.
According to NASA and space scientists:
- February 2013 - February 16, 2013 from SpaceWeather Website
On Friday, February 15th at 9:30 am local time in Russia, a small asteroid struck the atmosphere over the city of Chelyabinsk and exploded.
According to reports from news organizations and Russian authorities, as many as 1000 people received minor injuries from the shock wave. This is the most energetic recorded meteor strike since the Tunguska impact of 1908.
Researchers have conducted a preliminary analysis of the event.
In many of the videos you can hear the sound of windows shattering as the meteor's loud shock wave reaches the ground.
Onlookers cry out in Russian as alarms and sirens sound in the background. This pair of wide-angle gif animations is also worth watching: #1, #2. It is natural to wonder if this event has any connection to today's record-setting flyby of asteroid 2012 DA14.
Paul Chodas of the Near Earth Object Program at JPL says no.
GOOD-BYE 2012 DA14
Asteroid 2012 DA14 (below video) few past Earth on Feb. 15th inside the orbit of many geosynchronous satellites.
At closest approach, around 2:25 pm EST, the 45-meter wide space rock was only 17,200 miles above Indonesia. No satellites were damaged by the flyby, and the asteroid is now receding from Earth.
Using a 3" refractor at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, Aaron Kingery captured this image of 2012 DA14 passing in front of the eta Carina Nebula:
NASA's Goldstone radar in the Mojave Desert will ping the space rock for the next four days to refine its orbit and map its surface features. Researchers will look carefully for signs that Earth's gravity might have caused seismic activity on the asteroid.
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