Ural Federal University Has Become a National Leader in Meteorite Studies

Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation , October 14, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Victor Grokhovsky, professor of Ural Federal University, warned about the new meteorite threat to the Earth – a “brother” of the Chelyabinsk meteorite.

“The first large meteorite in this century burst in the sky above Chelyabinsk. It is probable that the Earth can again be attacked by the “brother” of the Chelyabinsk meteorite”, told professor Grokhovsky. He underlined that his hypothesis is based on the statistics of meteorite attacks to the Earth during the last centuries.

"The first large meteorite in this century burst in the sky above Chelyabinsk. It is probable that the Earth can again be attacked by the "brother" of the Chelyabinsk meteorite"

Viktor Grokhovsky, Professor at Ural Federal University

According to Victor Grokhovsky the largest meteorites attack the Earth up to three times in one hundred years. In the XX century it was the Tunguska meteorite. UrFU professor informed that currently the scientists observe the celestial bodies being potentially dangerous but not all of such objects have been discovered yet.

“In particular, it was planned to launch a number of satellites able to monitor the situation. But now this initiative is on the decrease. I’d like to underline that during 1.5 years we have not made any significant steps in forecasting meteorites approaching the Earth”, denoted the researcher.

According to professor Grokhovsky, launching the initiative of monitoring dangerous objects approaching the Earth requires investing billions roubles. Victor Grokhovsky plans to raise these funds in the course of international collaboration.

“Chelyabinsk” meteorite was an asteroid fragment that entered the Earth atmosphere on February 15, 2013. The space body burst at heights of not more than 50 km; as a result a lot of fragments fell down in Chelyabinsk. Thousands of people in the region and in the border districts of Kazakhstan viewed the explosion.