Calgary avoids being wiped off the map

[feepa]

Well, not quite... still close call
Calgary dodges space junk
Call from Norad puts province on high alert
By Richard CuthbertsonFebruary 14, 2009
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/calgary+dodges+space+junk/1290211/1291171.bin (http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:setClass%28%27storypage%27,%27story_photo_content%27%29;)

A computer-generated artists impression released by the European Space Agency (ESA) depicts an approximation of 12 000 objects in orbit around the Earth. A communications satellite belonging to US company Iridium has collided with a disused Russian military satellite, on February 12, 2009.

Photograph by: Getty Images, Getty Images




A piece of space junk the size of a pickup truck hurtling toward Calgary changed course in the nick of time, saving the city from disaster Friday.
Had the suspected rocket debris hit a residential area, it would have triggered a catastrophic emergency and likely caused massive casualties, officials say.
"This is an extraordinary event," said Colin Lloyd, executive director of planning and operations at the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.
The junk's flight from space happened so quickly that emergency officials scrambled to prepare a public warning that would have broken into regular radio and television broadcasts.
Shortly after 10 a. m. Friday, the AEMA was told a piece of rocket debris the size of a pickup was hurtling toward southern Alberta.
Initially, the trajectory was to take the rocket debris into Calgary, but officials soon changed their analysis and estimated the fall would be in Wheatland County, about 110 kilometres east of the city.
Officials scrambled to organize for the worst-case scenario. If the object had struck in a residential area, "it probably would have been significant loss of life," Lloyd said.
Fortunately, a nightmare scenario was averted less than 40 minutes later when the debris was deflected off its course in the atmosphere and landed harmlessly in the Atlantic Ocean.
But it was such a close call that AEMA was within seconds of issuing the public warning notice. Among the messages was a warning for people not to get close to the object, as it could be radioactive.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/Calgary+dodges+space+junk/1290211/story.html

[vid]

Scary.

[sdimedru]

Scary.

absolutely....and thank goodness no one was hurt....

but SO very cool!

[Canadian Mind]

a piece of space junk the sie of a pickup truck prolley only weighed a couple hundred kilo's, which is why it was so easily deflected int the Atlantic. Means to me that whatever made it through the atmosphere woudl have produced a crater not more then a few hundred feet wide. So landng in a residential area thee really wouldn't have been a large loss of life. Problem would have been the fires it set because of the impact.

[SpongeG]

so did it hit? any pics or news coverage?

wherever it was suppossed to hit... other than calgary

[Canadian Mind]

It landed in the atlantic ocean, 1/4 the way around the planet. Based on that, it was just as liekly to hit any other city between calgary and the eastern coast.

"Canadian Cities dodge a bullet"

[kirjtc2]

In the Atlantic Ocean.

[SpongeG]

ah never heard anything until this thread

[The Jabroni]

That was pure luck to the extreme!

[feepa]

It landed in the atlantic ocean, 1/4 the way around the planet. Based on that, it was just as liekly to hit any other city between calgary and the eastern coast.

"Canadian Cities dodge a bullet"

no it was coming straight for Calgary until it got deflected in the atmosphere.

[Canadian Mind]

no it was coming straight for Calgary until it got deflected in the atmosphere.

Exactly, and based on how far off it was deflected, almost 4000km, it could have hit almost any city between Calgary and the point of actual impact.

[vid]

It could have been deflected to hit Toronto.

OMG TORONTO WAS SAVED!

[Canadian Mind]

It could have been deflected to hit Toronto.

OMG TORONTO WAS SAVED!

Or your precious Thunder Bay! :notacrook:

[vid]

Well... That would be an improvement, really.

[SpongeG]

how was it deflected? did they send up bruce willis?

[Nicko999]

I deflected this thing:notacrook:

[Architype]

I wonder what are the chances of this happening again and again?

[agrant]

:previous: I'd say it's a sure thing. What goes up must come down.

[cornholio]

If you dont think a object the size of a truck cant do damage then think again. A object of that size can wipe Calgary of the face of the earth.

Here is a fun read regarding a similar event in 1908 in Russia.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Trees knocked over by the Tunguska blast. Photograph from Kulik's 1927 expedition

The Tunguska Event, or Tunguska explosion, was a powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya (Lower Stony) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia, at around 7:14 a.m.[1] (0:14 UT, 7:02 a.m. local solar time[2]) on June 30, 1908 (June 17 in the Julian calendar, in use locally at the time).[2]

Although the cause is the subject of some debate, the explosion was most likely to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5–10 kilometres (3–6 miles) above Earth's surface. Different studies have yielded varying estimates for the object's size, with general agreement that it was a few tens of metres across.[3]

Although the meteor or comet burst in the air rather than directly hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact. Estimates of the energy of the blast range from 5 megatons[4] to as high as 30 megatons[5] of TNT, with 10–15 megatons the most likely[5]—roughly equal to the United States' Castle Bravo thermonuclear explosion set off in late February 1954, about 1,000 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan and about one third the power of the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated.[6] The explosion knocked over an estimated 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometres (830 square miles). It is estimated that the earthquake from the blast would have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale, which was not yet developed at the time. An explosion of this magnitude is capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.[7] This possibility has helped to spark discussion of asteroid deflection strategies.

Although the Tunguska event is believed to be the largest impact event on land in Earth's recent history,[8] impacts of similar size in remote ocean areas would have gone unnoticed before the advent of global satellite monitoring in the 1960s and 1970s.

[someone123]

Tens of metres across, once already in the atmosphere, possibly of solid rock and metal (way, way more mass than a pickup truck sized satellite or whatever else humans send into space) or some weirdly combustible material going at who knows what velocity. I think the comparison is highly exaggerated.

Presumably if the effects were at all similar we'd be seeing satellite photos of the dramatic collision with the ocean.

The space junk image is also a little misleading. I doubt those satellites are hundreds of kilometres across, which is what the scale implies.

[cornholio]

Tens of metres across, once already in the atmosphere, possibly of solid rock and metal (way, way more mass than a pickup truck sized satellite or whatever else humans send into space) or some weirdly combustible material going at who knows what velocity. I think the comparison is highly exaggerated.

Presumably if the effects were at all similar we'd be seeing satellite photos of the dramatic collision with the ocean.

The space junk image is also a little misleading. I doubt those satellites are hundreds of kilometres across, which is what the scale implies.

Well the Tunguska event was pretty big but it still shows that something small can cause alot of damage. There are other smaller examples. In 2002 for example a large asteroid (9m in diameter) exploded above the Mediterranean and produced a 26kilotone explosion(like two Hiroshimas). Luckily it was above the ocean again and fairly high up. I guess I went a bit dar when I said it could have vaporized Calgary, but it still had the potential to do alot more damage then a small crater. It could of easily taken out a few block of the city.

[Canadian Mind]

Well the Tunguska event was pretty big but it still shows that something small can cause alot of damage. There are other smaller examples. In 2002 for example a large asteroid (9m in diameter) exploded above the Mediterranean and produced a 26kilotone explosion(like two Hiroshimas). Luckily it was above the ocean again and fairly high up. I guess I went a bit dar when I said it could have vaporized Calgary, but it still had the potential to do alot more damage then a small crater. It could of easily taken out a few block of the city.

That 9 meter diameter asteroid probably weighted a few kilotonnes (1000 tonnes) itself, whereas a twisted piece of space junk mostly consisting of aluminum, silicon, and plastic, probrably weighted no more than 100 kilograms, and most of it would have vaporised by the time it hit the planet. At most it would have taken out a few houses, maybe a cul-de-sac if the doomsday sayers got real lucky. This isn't a single, solid, dense piece of rock you are talking about here.

[Wooster]

I'm surprised it didn't deflect into the Habs net.

[canlefty]

^:haha:

[sdimedru]

I'm surprised it didn't deflect into the Habs net.

ZING!

[vid]

The space junk image is also a little misleading. I doubt those satellites are hundreds of kilometres across, which is what the scale implies.

It's to give you an idea of how many there are and where they're located, the size is exaggerated because if it wasn't, you wouldn't see them.

[Nicko999]

I'm surprised it didn't deflect into the Habs net.

me too

[O-tacular]

Is this at all related to the the asteroid / spacejunk burnout over Texas the other day? I heard that was a satellite knocked off course due to a collision.

[ÉricdeMtl]

Amazing, a few days ago, a Russian and American communications satellite collided in Earth's orbit, of all places. Not enought space in space it would seem...

Now we learn that a few weeks ago, a British and a French nuclear powered submarines armed with nuclear ballistic missiles collided in the middle of the Atlantic ocean...

Go figure :sly:

[Rico Rommheim]

I'm surprised it didn't deflect into the Habs net.

:haha:

[vid]

Amazing, a few days ago, a Russian and American communications satellite collided in Earth's orbit, of all places. Not enought space in space it would seem...

Now we learn that a few weeks ago, a British and a French nuclear powered submarines armed with nuclear ballistic missiles collided in the middle of the Atlantic ocean...

Go figure :sly:

In the first case, it's really only pure luck that it hasn't already happened. It really is crowded up there. As for the submarines, they couldn't detect each other, and that was coincidence as well. The latter is scarier, I think.

[Bigtime]

how was it deflected? did they send up bruce willis?

Kiprusoff :cool:

In retrospect I was really hoping this could have hit Calgary and taken out the condo "gem" that is Vantage Pointe:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/169/414390346_4c46477805.jpg
Link (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/169/414390346_4c46477805.jpg)