давайте не решайте за американцев
они (посчитали)оценили энергию, выделившуюся при распаде метеор(ит)а в плотных слоях атмосферы.Also, the estimate for energy released during the event has increased by 30 kilotons to nearly 500 kilotons of energy released. These new estimates were generated using new data that had been collected by five additional infrasound stations located around the world – the first recording of the event being in Alaska, over 6,500 kilometers away from Chelyabinsk. The infrasound data indicates that the event, from atmospheric entry to the meteor's airborne disintegration took 32.5 seconds. The calculations using the infrasound data were performed by Peter Brown at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
скорость кстати легко считается по длине шлейфа и времени за которое он образовался, это действительно около 20 км/сек