Asteroids have caused 26 nuclear-size explosions in the Earth’s atmosphere between 2000 and 2013, according to a new report by the B612 Foundation.
Most of these explosions occurred in the upper atmosphere, too high to cause any significant damage on the ground, but the size of the explosions is a sobering reminder of the threats posed by asteroids – the largest of the explosions was dozens of times stronger than that of the atomic bomb that struck Hiroshima, equivalent to 16 kilotons of TNT.
The data of the explosions were recorded by the Nuclear test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), which operates a global network of sensors to detect nuclear explosions, with none of the explosions detected by any satellite of earth-based observatory.
The B612 Foundation plans to launch Sentinel, a privately funded deep space mission tasked with detecting and tracking threatening objects millions of miles form Earth with an infrared space telescope. The project is scheduled to launch in 2018.
