[Orangedog]

I think the biggest concern, if this or one like it were to hit the Earth, is how governments would react to the impact/explosion. For instance, if it would have hit the US, Russia, or China, particularly near a population center. This could very easily be mistaken for a blast from a nuclear weapon. SAC/NORAD would probably be able to figure out that it was a big rock from space, but what about some of the other members of the nuclear club? Russia's detection infrastructure is probably nowhere nearly as sophisticated or well maintained as ours is. I imagine China would have a hard time identifying where it came from as well. With the explosion yeilding a blast in the mega-ton range, an event like this could possibly cause a country to believe that they had just been nuked and then launch a retaliatory strike against whoever happens to be on their list of targets, which might include the US.

[lepton]

I think the biggest concern, if this or one like it were to hit the Earth, is how governments would react to the impact/explosion. For instance, if it would have hit the US, Russia, or China, particularly near a population center. This could very easily be mistaken for a blast from a nuclear weapon. SAC/NORAD would probably be able to figure out that it was a big rock from space, but what about some of the other members of the nuclear club?

Actually, there are dozens of multi-kiloton explosions in our atmosphere every day. Discovery had some neat time-lapse photos. One of the things that much of our detection system is set up for is descriminating between real launches, blasts, and meteor events.

[dixierat22]

There would be a lack of radiation and , to the best of my knowledge, no EMP, both of which would be detected in the event of a nuke explosion. Even the Chinese could detect that.

[Paul Ross]

All the more reason to have an asteroid detection/interception system, plus a National Missile Defense...

[Paul Ross]

All the more reason to have an asteroid detection/interception system, plus a National Missile Defense...