NASA failed to detect a 6-foot meteoroid traveling at 45,000 mph before it struck Earth’s atmosphere above Northeast Ohio, highlighting critical gaps in asteroid tracking systems. The object, which released energy equivalent to 250 tons of TNT upon impact, was only identified by a weather satellite after it had already fragmented in the upper atmosphere. The meteor’s extreme speed made early detection nearly impossible. Moving at 60 times the speed of sound, it covered the distance from the Moon to Earth in hours. By the time it approached within range of ground-based telescopes, it was already entering the atmosphere above Lake Erie. NASA’s current systems are designed to track large asteroids capable of causing global devastation, but objects as small as this 6-foot rock fall below the detection threshold. A key challenge was the meteor’s dark composition. Made of carbon-rich or metallic material, it reflected almost no light against the backdrop of space. Telescopes rely on capturing reflected sunlight to spot asteroids, making it akin to finding a dark speck in an endless void. This "albedo problem" significantly reduces the chances of detecting such objects, even with advanced technology. Another factor was the meteor’s trajectory. It approached Earth from the dayside, where the Sun’s glare overwhelmed optical telescopes. The event occurred at 8:57 a.m., when the sky was bright, effectively cloaking the meteor’s final approach. NASA’s primary detection systems, which scan for threats from space, could not penetrate the solar glare to spot the object. The meteor was only detected by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) on the GOES East satellite, which monitors lightning storms.#nasa #lake_erie #geostationary_lightning_mapper #goes_east #valley_city_ohio
