A high-ranking US military official has warned it's possible a stray asteroid could trigger atomic war.
Air Force Brigadier General Simon P. Worden voiced his fears to members of a House Science sub-committee.
General Worden is deputy director for operations of the US Strategic Command.
He said about 30 times a year space rock smashes into the atmosphere and explodes, releasing energy equal to that of an atomic bomb.
He believes there is a chance the explosions could be mistaken for a nuclear attack.
The United States has satellite instruments that determine within a minute if the explosion is a nuclear weapon or a natural explosion from an asteroid.
But General Worden says no other countries have such technology and without it, some could conclude they have come under attack.
He cited an example of an asteroid explosion in August, while Pakistan and India were at full alert over Kashmir.
He said a few weeks before US satellites detected an atmospheric flash over the Mediterranean that indicated "an energy release comparable to the Hiroshima burst.
"The resulting panic in the nuclear-armed and hair-triggered opposing forces could have been the spark that ignited a nuclear horror we have avoided for over a half-century," the general said.
Story filed: 08:38 Friday 4th October 2002