The US Air Force failed to report a major meteor explosion near a military base in Greenland earlier this summer, leading to concern and confusion.

The explosion contained 2.1 kilotons of force and occurred just above an early-warning radar at the Thule Air Force base in June, according to Hans Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists. Mr Kristensen confirmed the explosion in a tweet on Wednesday, suggesting the meteor could have been mistaken by some as a “Russian first strike�?.

However, the US Air Force did not release a statement regarding the meteor, or even tweet about the phenomena.

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When contacted for comment, a representative for the secretary of the Air Force public affairs told The Independent: "We’re not providing any comment on that, except that it didn’t impact operations at Thule."

Reporting meteor explosions is not typically a job of the Air Force, though it would be considered commonplace for any military branch to at least acknowledge an incident of this magnitude near one of its bases.

The Thule Air Base public news site includes no information surrounding the meteor whatsoever, along with all other web domains associated with the base.

Still, the incident was confirmed in part by data published by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which showed an object travelling nearly 24.4 kilometres per second over Thule on 25 July around midnight.

Had the space rock broken through the Earth’s atmosphere at a slightly different angle, there could have been potentially fatal consequences.

For example, a large meteor struck Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013, causing damage to nearly 7,000 buildings and injuring 1,500 people.

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It remains unclear why the Air Force did not release a statement regarding the meteor last month. The military branch contacted its “space command�? during the incident, the Military Times reported in a piece debunking claims about the explosion.

Those claims, which suggested the Air Force base was destroyed by the meteor, may have been exacerbated by a lack of public information surrounding the incident.</s>A meteor hit close to a U.S. Air Force base in Greenland, it was confirmed by NASA but the Air Force has remained silent. According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory listed the impact on their website. The impact occurred a little over 26 miles north of Thule Air Base on July 25. The meteor was traveling at 15 miles per second.

On August 3, the Military Times published an article with the headline, “No, a Meteor Did Not Destroy Thule Air Base.” The Military Times attributed a Fox News report, that was “re-upped” from Australian media, for providing “rocket fuel for a frenzy of reporter calls to a surprised base and NASA spokesmen. Thule’s media spokesperson, Steve Brady, of Peterson Air Force base in Colorado but handles Greenland’s media inquiries, said, “No, we don’t have any reports of damage, why are we getting calls on this now?”

On August 1, the Director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists, Hans M. Kristensen, tweeted about the meteor. Kristensen wrote that the meteor had 2.1 kilotons of force. He noted that the base, “Correctly concluded it was not a Russian first strike. There are nearly 2,000 nukes on alert, ready to launch.”

Speaking to Business Insider, Kristensen said, “Had [the meteor] entered at a more perpendicular angle, it would have struck the earth with significantly greater force.” Kristensen notes that meteors head towards earth once every 13 days but most burn up in the atmosphere.

In February 2013, a meteor exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, injuring nearly 2,000 people, mainly due to broken glass. That meteor was visible from 60 miles away in the sky. Writing on NASA’s website, Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson, said of that incident, “The Chelyabinsk event drew widespread attention to what more needs to be done to detect even larger asteroids before they strike our planet. This was a cosmic wake-up call.” In the wake of that incident, the International Asteroid Warning Network was established.

Air Force Base is home to the 12th Space Warning Squadron that uses a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System which tracks nuclear weapons which are fired at the United States.</s>A meteor strike last month caused a 2.1 kiloton explosion next to a US Air Force base in Greenland that is home to an early missile warning radar, but the facility was not harmed by the blast.

The US Air Force confirmed the July 25 incident at Thule Air Base on Friday, reassuring Military Times: 'Thule is fine.'

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory included the strike in its 'fireball report,' indicating that an unknown object was traveling at a speed of 24.4 kilometers per second (54,000mph) when it blew up, 43 kilometers (27 miles) above Thule’s missile detection system, just before midnight on July 25.

Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, tweeted about the meteor strike on Wednesday.

'We’re still here, so they correctly concluded it was not a Russian first strike,' he quipped. 'There are nearly 2,000 nukes on alert, ready to launch.'

There were no reports of any damage at Thule Air Base, which is the US military’s northernmost installation, situated 750 north of the Arctic Circle.

The facility houses the Department of Defense's network of sensors designed to detect incoming missiles.

Other functions performed by the air base include space surveillance and ‘space control to North American Aerospace Defense Command and Air Force Space Command,’ according to a military site.</s>The weird thing is the US Air Force hasn't said a word about it.

Perplexing media reports state that a mysterious meteor has penetrated Earth’s atmosphere on July 25, exploding over a U.S. military base stationed in Greenland.

The bolide managed to slip past the early-warning radar at Thule Air Force Base and remained unnoticed until it disintegrated some 43 kilometers (26 miles) above the base, per Fox News.

According to Syfy Wire, the detonation unleashed an energy of about 8.8 trillion Joules, equivalent to the explosion of 2,100 tons of TNT. Luckily, the U.S. personnel stationed at Thule Air didn’t mistake the meteor explosion of an incoming nuke, otherwise the bolide might have sparked a nuclear war, notes the media outlet, which specifies the meteor came from an asteroid the size of a small car.

As it is, the bright meteor remained just another fireball lighting up the sky — one of the countless others that frequently burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

For instance, between 1994 and 2013, 556 small asteroids ranging in size from 1 meter (3 feet) to almost 20 meters (60 feet) crashed in our planet’s atmosphere, resulting in bolides, shows a 2014 report by NASA.

“Almost all asteroids of this size disintegrate in the atmosphere and are usually harmless,” space agency officials stated at the time.

The curious thing about last week’s incident is that the U.S. Air Force has failed to report on the matter, notes the Business Insider.

“No reporting about any such event appears on the public news website of the 12th Space Warning Squadron based at Thule, the 21st Space Wing, or the wing’s 821st Air Base Group,” states the media outlet.

Instead, the news of the event first broke on social media and came from two “credible” sources: the Twitter account of “Rocket Ron,” a user who describes himself as a “Space Explorer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,” and the director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists, Hans Kristensen.

The first tweet about the meteor exploding over Thule Air was posted by “Rocket Ron” on July 31 at 3.10 p.m. ET.

A day later, Kristensen retweeted the news at 5:14 p.m. ET, writing: “Meteor explodes with 2.1 kilotons force 43 km above missile early warning radar at Thule Air Base.”

“We’re still here, so they correctly concluded it was not a Russian first strike. There are nearly 2,000 nukes on alert, ready to launch,” Kristensen added in his Twitter post.

The news is corroborated by a report from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which recorded a space object of unspecified size flying almost directly over Thule on July 25 at 21:55 UTC (5.55 p.m. ET).

The object was traveling at speeds of 24.4 kilometers per second — about 54,000 mph, or Mach 74, notes the Business Insider — and fits the altitude, latitude and longitude coordinates specified by the original source.</s>On August 01, the director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists, Hans Kristensen, tweeted: “Meteor explodes with 2.1 kilotons force 43 km (26 miles) above missile early warning radar at Thule Air Base.”

Kristensen quoted a tweet that originated from “Rocket Ron” (@RonBaalke), whose profile allegedly indicates he is a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in La Cañada Flintridge, California. The original tweet on July 31 said: ” A fireball was detected over Greenland on July 25, 2018 by US Government sensors at an altitude of 43.3 km (43 miles). The energy from the explosion is estimated to be 2.1 kilotons.”

Data from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory shows reported fireball events for which geographic locations are provided. Each event’s calculated total impact energy is indicated by its relative size and by color. The record shows a meteor traveling at 24.4 kilometers per second (54,000 mph) at 76.9 degrees north latitude, 69.0 degrees west longitude, on July 25 at 11:55 p.m, slammed into the atmosphere directly over Thule, Greenland.

According to the Military Times, the meteor “struck…miles from a key U.S. early warning air base,” which is home to the 12th Space Warning Squadron based at Thule, that operates and maintains the Air Base in support of missile warning, space surveillance, and satellite command-and-control operations missions. Thule is located 1,207 km (750 miles) north of the Arctic Circle and 1,524 km (947 miles) from the North Pole on the northwest side of the island of Greenland.

The story was first reported by Australian media, then blasted across America via Fox News on Friday. The article’s title read “Air Force remains silent after huge meteor hits near US military base,” which generated tremendous buzz on social media and triggered a swarm of journalist contacting the Air Base about the matter.

“No, we don’t have any reports of damage, why are we getting calls on this now?” said Steve Brady, a spokesman at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, which handles Thule’s media queries, even though Thule is located in Greenland.

The Aviationist’s Tom Demerly, who reported on the mystery meteor, wrote in an analysis that it is disturbing because there was no public warning from the U.S. government about the meteor impact. “Had it entered at a more perpendicular angle, it would have struck the earth with significantly greater force,” he wrote.

As to “significantly greater force,” well, Demerly does not specifically define what that means as far as kilotons. However, the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor incident (below) provides the very real understanding of the destructive nature of these space objects. We ask just one question: Why did the US government initially fail to alert citizens of Greenland and the US of an incoming meteor that could have potentially been very dangerous?

The Chelyabinsk meteor entered Earth’s atmosphere over Russia on February 2013, with a speed of 19 kilometers per second (42,500 mph). It quickly became a dazzling superbolide meteor over the southern Ural region. The bulk of the meteor’s energy was absorbed by the atmosphere, with total kinetic energy before atmospheric impact estimated from infrasound and seismic measurements to be equivalent to the blast yield of 400–500 kilotons or roughly 26 to 33 times as much energy as that released from the atomic bomb detonated at Hiroshima.

This footage below from multiple closed-circuit television systems recorded the moment when the meteor slammed into the Earth’s atmosphere generating a massive shockwave across the Ural region.</s>A curious and credible tweet from the director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists, Hans Kristensen, on Wednesday at 5:14 p.m. ET said: "Meteor explodes with 2.1 kilotons force 43 km above missile early warning radar at Thule Air Base."

That tweet apparently originated from a tweet on Tuesday afternoon by "Rocket Ron," whose profile says they're a "Space Explorer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory." The original tweet said: "A fireball was detected over Greenland on July 25, 2018 by US Government sensors at an altitude of 43.3 km. The energy from the explosion is estimated to be 2.1 kilotons."

The incident is fascinating for a long list of reasons, not least of which is how the Air Force integrates the use of social media reporting (and non-reporting) into its official flow of information. As of this writing, no reporting about any such event appears on the public news website of the 12th Space Warning Squadron based at Thule, the 21st Space Wing, or the wing's 821st Air Base Group that operates and maintains Thule Air Base in support of missile warning, space surveillance, and satellite command-and-control operations missions.

An AN/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar, which can detect and warn of sea-launched ballistic missiles. US Air Force

Data from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory shows a record of an object of unspecified size traveling at 24.4 kilometers per second (about 54,000 mph, or Mach 74) at 76.9 degrees north latitude, 69.0 degrees west longitude, on July 25 at 11:55 p.m. That latitude and longitude checks out as almost directly over Thule, Greenland.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory shows a record of the object's reentry on its database. Twitter / Data via NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

According to NASA, its Near-Earth Object program database for objects entering the atmosphere shows that: "The data indicate that Earth's atmosphere was impacted by small asteroids, resulting in a bolide (or fireball), on 556 separate occasions in a 20-year period. Almost all asteroids of this size disintegrate in the atmosphere and are usually harmless." That is a rate of one asteroid, or "bolide," every 13 days over the 20-year study.

But there are exceptions.

You may recall the sensational YouTube and social media videos of the very large Chelyabinsk meteor that struck the earth on February 15, 2013. Luckily, it entered the Earth's atmosphere at a shallow trajectory and largely disintegrated. Had it entered at a more perpendicular angle, it might have struck the Earth with significantly greater force. Scientists report that Chelyabinsk was the largest meteor to hit the Earth in the modern recording period, over 60 feet (20 meters) in diameter. Over 7,000 buildings were damaged and about 1,500 people were injured in the incident.

What is perhaps most haunting about the Chelyabinsk meteor — and perhaps, we may learn, this most recent Greenland incident — is that there was no warning (at least, not publicly). No satellites in orbit detected the Chelyabinsk meteor, and no early-warning system knew it was coming, according to scientists. Because the radiant or origin of the Chelyabinsk meteor was out of the sun, it was difficult to detect in advance. It arrived with total surprise.

Northern Russia seems to be a magnet for titanic meteor strikes. The Tunguska event of 1908 was a meteor that struck in the Krasnoyarsk Krai region of Siberia. It flattened over 770 square miles of Siberian taiga forest but curiously seems to have left no crater, suggesting it likely disintegrated entirely about 6 miles above the Earth. The massive damage done to the taiga forest was from the shockwave of the object entering the atmosphere prior to disintegration. While this recent Greenland event is very large, at 2.1 kilotons (2,100 tons of TNT) of force for the explosion, the Tunguska event is estimated to have been as large as 15 megatons (15 million tons of TNT).

It will be interesting to see how (and if) popular news media and the official defense news outlets process this recent Greenland incident. But while we wait to see how the media responds as the Twitter dust settles, it's worth at least a minor exhale knowing this is another big object that missed hitting the Earth in a different location at a different angle and potentially with a different outcome.</s>The United States Air Force has been silent on reports of a meteor crash near one of its bases near Greenland on July 25.

An object, confirmed to be travelling at the speed of 24.4 kilometers per second by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, exploded with a force of 2.1 kilotons 43 kilometers north of the Thule Air Base, Fox News reports.

Taking to his Twitter account, the Director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists, Hans Kristensen reported the event.

"The Chelyabinsk event drew widespread attention to what more needs to be done to detect even larger asteroids before they strike our planet," Lindley Johnson, NASA's Planetary Defense Officer, was quoted by Fox News as saying.

The Chelyabinsk event resulted in the formation of the International Asteroid Warning Network, an international group of organizations involved in detecting, tracking, and characterizing Near Earth Objects.</s>Air Force remains silent after huge meteor hits near US military base

A meteor hit the earth and exploded with 2.1 kilotons of force last month, but the US Air Force has made no mention of the event.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed an object of unspecified size travelling at 24.4 kilometres per second struck earth in Greenland, just 43 kilometres north of an early missile warning Thule Air Base on the 25th of July, 2018.

Director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists, Hans Kristensen, tweeted about the impact, but America’s Air Force has not reported the event.

Mr. Kristensen argues it’s concerning there was no public warning from the US government about the incident.

“Had it entered at a more perpendicular angle, it would have struck the earth with significantly greater force,” he writes on Business Insider.

Mr Kristensen points to the example of the Chelyabinsk meteor, a 20-metre space rock that exploded in the air over Russia without warning on the 15th of February 2013. – READ MORE</s>The fireball from the meteor was detected over Greenland with the huge force from the explosion. NASA also confirmed an object of unspecified size had travelled through the air above the Thule airspace. When looking at the size of the asteroid, it appears it broke up in the atmosphere and disintegrated. Nuclear Information Project director Hans Kristensen wrote: “Meteor explodes with 2.1 kilotons force 43km above missile early warning radar at Thule Air Base.

“We’re still here, so they correctly concluded it was not a Russian first strike. “There are nearly 2,000 nukes on alert, ready to launch.” Mr Kristensen added his concern at the lack of information from the US government on the incident. He wrote in Business Insider: “Had it entered at a more perpendicular angle, it would have struck the Earth with significantly greater force.”

“It would have struck the Earth with significantly greater force” As an example, Mr Kristensen pointed to the Chelyabinsk meteor that exploded over Russia on February 15, 2013. The meteor was visible unto 100km away and was the size of a house. Despite exploding in the air, more than 1500 people were injured as glass shattered from windows.

NASA Planetary Defense Officer Lindley Johnson described the incident as a “cosmic wake up call”, with the injury toll the largest ever from a space rock. He added: “The Chelyabinsk event drew widespread attention to what more needs to be done to detect even larger asteroids before they strike our planet.” The Air Force is still yet to comment on the incident.</s>Director of the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists Hans Kristensen has shared information about a meteor that burst just dozens of kilometers above the US Thule Air Base in Greenland that is designed to warn of potential missile attacks.

​The original message about the explosion that Kristensen re-tweeted was posted by a user who described himself as a "space explorer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory."

The NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory also provided a report about an object traveling at 24.4 kilometers per second that ended its space journey in this point.

READ MORE: The Blast From Five Years Ago: The Chelyabinsk Meteor Conspiracy Theories

However, according to Business Insider, neither the 12th Space Warning Squadron based at Thule, the 21st Space Wing, nor the Wing's 821st Air Base Group from the missile warning Thule Air Base, which is intended to provide space surveillance and satellite command, reported publicly on the incident.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory releases a report officially disclosing a meteor explosion of roughly 2.1 kilotons of force near Thule Air Base in northwest Greenland on July 25. The United States Air Force confirms the explosion, adding that it did not impact operations at Thule Air Base.