Photo taken on Feb. 17, 2013 released by RIA Novosti agency shows a scientific researcher holding a meteor fragments found in the chebarkul lake region near Chelyabinsk, about 1,500 kilometers east of Moscow, Russia. Scientists have found fragments of a meteor that exploded over Russia's central Urals and triggered a shock wave that injured hundreds and shattered scores of windows, experts said Monday. (Xinhua/RIA Novosti)
MOSCOW, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Russia needs about 2 billion U.S. dollars to build a working anti-meteorite defense system, a Russian scientist said Monday.
"Beside a network of ground-base telescopes we need some space-based platform. For all that, we need 58 billion rubles (some 2 billion dollars) for 10 years," said Lidia Rykhlova, head of department at the Astronomy Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The draft federal program of creating an anti-meteor shield has been approved by Russian space agency Roscosmos and submitted to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, she said.
The project gained urgency after a meteorite burst into the sky over Russia's Urals region on Friday and burned up before landing, leaving some 1,200 people injured in its explosion.
According to Rykhlova, if the bolide had not exploded in atmosphere but hit the ground, the power of the explosion could be equal to 500 kilotons of TNT.
Scientists have found fragments of the meteorite, which broke into approximately seven large pieces, one of which fell into Lake Chebarkul, some 150 km away from Chelyabinsk.
BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The meteor explosion in Russia which left 1,200 people injured and 4,000 buildings damaged and caused an estimated damage of some 33 million U.S. dollars has generated a heated discussion about meteor and pushed various countries to strengthen efforts to counter space threats.Full story
Russian meteor biggest in century
BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The meteor that exploded over Russia's Ural Mountains Friday was the biggest recorded object to strike the Earth in more than a century, scientists said Saturday.
The energy of the detonation appears to be equivalent to about 300 kilotons of TNT, said Margaret Campbell-Brown of the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Western Ontario. Full story
BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Videos have been captured the meteorite which streaked across the sky before exploding over Russia’s Ural Mountains.
The fireball, which Russian space agency Roscosmos says was travelling at a speed of 30 kilometers per second, blazed across the horizon, leaving a long white trail that could be seen as far as 200 kilometers away. Full story
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