It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.

Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.

Thank you.

 

Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.

 

Could a Tunguska event trigger nuclear war?

page: 1
0

log in

join
share:

posted on Mar, 1 2006 @ 10:53 AM
link   
I was watching the show Russia's Roswell again last night and they had a segment on the Tunguska blast. Tunguska It got me thinking about what would have happened if the Tunguska event happened in say 1975 instead of 1908.

Imagine its the middle of the cold war. Your in Russia waking to a normal day when all of a sudden there is a 10-15 megaton airburst explosion over the heart of Russia.


OMG those Capitalist Pigs have gotten the drop on the USSR! You retaliate at the US with your own nuclear weapons and they return in kind. But that initial blast was caused by no US nuclear weapon but rather a asteroid or comet impact like in Tunguska.

Could something like that have happened if not for a few decades difference? Could some event like that still trigger a nuclear power today.

Its clear another Tunguska size impact will happen again on earth its not matter of if only when. We do not see all asteroids comming, infact as late as 2002 we have not noticed 1000 plus feet close earth asteroids until after they flew by earth. Theres just not alot of people scanning the skies for these things.



posted on Mar, 1 2006 @ 11:36 AM
link   
Whoa, thats a good point ShadowXIX. I'd think that radiation detectors would'nt be going off though, so that might prevent it.
On the other hand, much of these Thermonuclear Warfare Setups are automated, once the process gets started, its difficult to stop. That is something to be concerned about.



posted on Mar, 1 2006 @ 12:03 PM
link   
Strangely enough Tunguska seemed to have caused a significant rise in cosmic radiation (Carbon 14). Attempts to apply carbon-14 dating to soil in the area gave a date "in the future" the soil was enriched in radioactive carbon-14.

Thats one of Tunguska unexplained phenomena that has not been convincingly explained for all.

LINK

Im not sure how exactly nuclear weapon radiation detections work they might not be effected in the least. But its a interesting point about Tunguska.



posted on Mar, 1 2006 @ 01:50 PM
link   
No, it wouldn't trigger a nuclear war. I used to be in the world-destruction business.

Even if there wasn't a lot of very expensive equipment on the ground and in space that can track a missile launch and where it's coming from within seconds (UFOs, too), there are long-established protocols in place for such an event, particularly between Russia and the U.S., that would prevent any "accidental" hostilities from breaking out.

Which is not to say that purposeful hostilities couldn't always break out. But there would likely be a build-up to that you'd probably hear about in the news.

Kah-blammo!


[edit on 1-3-2006 by Enkidu]



posted on Mar, 1 2006 @ 01:55 PM
link   


... much of these Thermonuclear Warfare Setups are automated, once the process gets started, its difficult to stop.

It's not as automated as you might think, at least it wasn't in my day. Real, live human people were making decisions at every step along the way. I would agree, however, that most scenarios are geared toward escalation than the other way around.

[edit on 1-3-2006 by Enkidu]



posted on Mar, 7 2006 @ 06:09 PM
link   
Oh yeah. That's an easy one. Of course if would. Times were so tense back then, that if someone shot a pee shooter at the window of the Kremlin, we wouldn't be here
. Good point, though.



posted on Mar, 26 2006 @ 06:45 PM
link   
As was mentioned, there is a lengthy protocol procedure in place (and far more advanced sensors, etc.) to prevent such a mistake. And no, I seriously doubt you'll EVER see any computer launching a nuke without a human decision behind it.



posted on Mar, 26 2006 @ 07:35 PM
link   

Originally posted by Enkidu
No, it wouldn't trigger a nuclear war. I used to be in the world-destruction business.


Umm...what exactly does that entail?

I don't think that this event alone would cause Russia (or any nuclear hostile country that it occured in) to launch a nuclear attack. However, an escalation of events, such as meteor impact, U.S. DEFCON status raise "just in case", Russia in turn raising their readiness, etc could lead to the break out of hostilities...A meteor impact such as Tunguska could just be the catalyst.



posted on Mar, 27 2006 @ 09:25 PM
link   
I've never been in any position of power, so I can't really say for sure. However I would think that we'd be able to spot a Tunguska sized object coming from space a good deal of time before it actually impacted. So even if we couldn't stop it (which is a good question for another thread) we'd probably at least know it wasn't the other nation.



posted on Mar, 27 2006 @ 09:39 PM
link   
Even now there aint that many people scanning the skies for these objects. As late as




On 2002-06-14, a 70 meter (230 ft) diameter asteroid, known as Asteroid 2002 MN, missed the Earth by 119,000 km (74,000 mi) and wasn't noticed until several days after it passed by because it approached Earth from the direction of the Sun.

we didnt notice it till several days after it passed :O that object even in 2002 would have hit earth with no warning if it was on course.

www3.sympatico.ca...

Tunguska might have been a comet and we dont even bother to try keeping track of these things the "Ort cloud" is made up of trillions of such objects and can come at the earth from any angle since its a shell around our entire solar system.

The major objects in the asteroid belt are easy to keep a eye on in comparison far less and they are on a realtively narrow and level section of the solar systems.

I really wish we would have advanced warning of any such impact but I dont have much faith with our current detection systems.



new topics

top topics



 
0

log in

join