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Tunguska-Sized Asteroids Impacts Not So Common
JoeGee writes "MSNBC.com is reporting that a new study aided by data from U.S. Military satellites is causing scientists to revise the frequency of Tunguska-like impacts downward. Military satellites used to detect rocket launches and/or nuclear flashes are also good at monitoring the frequency of flashes in the atmosphere caused by ten meter to one meter sized objects burning up in our atmosphere. The study has concluded that Earth encounters much less interplanetary debris than was previously thought, and Tunguska-scale events only occur on average of once every millenium."
The Tunguska explosion devastated an area the size of England in the grimmest and most frostbitten lands of Siberia -- if one occurs every 1000 years, then it could absolutely devastate civilization and make the destruction of 9/11 seem absolutely trivial. If it had hit Europe or an ocean instead of killing a few Siberian eskimos, we would have been set back a century.
Too bad there is no chance we'll ever develop a system to intercept asteroids should we ever have to within our lifetimes.