Vietnam lacks the technical ability to track meteors and predict potential impacts such as the one that occurred in Russia on February 15, said an expert.
Dr. Le Huy Minh
Dr. Le Huy Minh sat down with a reporter to answer questions that have been brought up by the incident.
The recent meteor blast in Russia caused thousands of injuries and shocked the world. Does Vietnam have any system to detect and warn people against similar events in the future?
No agency in Vietnam is able to observe and detect such a phenomenon as meteor blast because the observation requires a large amount of astronomical equipment.
Statistics show that over the past 300-400 years, around 20 meteors weighing several tonnes have fallen to earth in different places. But the surface of the earth is large and the probability of the meteor impact in a place like Vietnam is quite small. Still there is no viable way to prevent a blast.
Again, the probability of this type of event is very small, and has been estimated to happen around once every 100 years.
Has Vietnam ever witnessed any meteor blast which caused damages?
There is some evidence that Vietnam has been struck in the past, in the form of stone samples which were found in Lam Dong, as well as some others found in the Central Highlands as well as Yen Bai and Cao Bang provinces. These samples contained tektite, which is formed when meteors crash into the earth's surface. But scientists have been unable to determine the time at which these meteors struck.
Will Vietnam forge cooperation agreements with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency to set up an early warning system for this country?
At this time there is not agency in Vietnam in charge of keeping track of space objects that could potentially hit earth, or to deal with the effects of such an event. However both NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have kept other countries informed of any risks that they have detected. They have the ability to accurately predict the trajectory of any objects in space that they observe.
What could we do to manage or mitigate the consequences of meteor strike in terms of warning?
Currently there are no feasible prevention methods. Russia has modern technology and a long history of tracking meteors, yet they still were affected by the blast. In the future science may provide better early warning systems, but for now it's just a danger we have to face.
At this time only NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have the capability of researching objects that pose a threat to earth. No agency is able to accurately predict a case such as that which happened in Russia on the 15th.
| Nguyen Duc Phuong, General Secretary of the Vietnam Astronomy and Universe Association, said most meteor blasts occur in sparcely-populated areas; deserts or over the ocean. The case in Russia is an exception, in that it happened over a populated area. This is not something that people should worry too much about. |