US to shoot down satellite

[Flatbutt1]

This could get very interesting. I can just hear the accusations now.


US to try to shoot down spy satellite By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Taking a page from Hollywood science fiction, the Pentagon said Thursday it will try to shoot down a dying, bus-sized U.S. spy satellite loaded with toxic fuel on a collision course with the Earth.


The military hopes to smash the satellite as soon as next week — just before it enters Earth's atmosphere — with a single missile fired from a Navy cruiser in the northern Pacific Ocean.

[Moses]

uh...why?

[BRPORSCHE]

Its dead, and I am not sure if they know where, if it does, hit. So typical american idea. SHOOT THAT BABY DOWN!

[Moses]

As soon as it enters the atmosphere they will know where it's likely to land. Two thirds chance it's over the ocean. Oh well. Another excuse to spend a few million tax dollars and blow ***** up.

[island_dude]

This seems like a bad idea to me. The debris field generated by ASAT hits were the military's reason for not pursuing anti-sat weapons. I suppose they figure that the thing will be in a much lower orbit so the hit won't be so bad.
From a diplomatic perspective this is a nightmare. We yell at the Chinese for their experiment and then we take one of our own out. It practically gives the Chinese the green light to keep working on ASATs. This is the sort of cowboy move that will have lasting impressions.

[slodave]

More info needs to be put forth...

From Mike Mount
CNN
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military may try within days to shoot down a failed satellite using a missile launched from a Navy ship, officials announced Thursday.

A Delta II rocket lifts off in December, carrying a reconnaissance satellite that failed hours later.

Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon that the window to accomplish the mission could begin in three to four days, and remain open for seven to eight.

While much space trash and debris have safely crashed to Earth after burning up in the atmosphere on re-entry, authorities said what makes this 5,000-pound satellite different is the approximately 1,000 pounds of frozen toxic hydrazine propellant it carries.

Without any intervention, officials believe the satellite would come down on its own in early March.

If it came down in one piece, nearly half the spacecraft would survive re-entry and the hydrazine -- heated to a gas -- could spread a toxic cloud roughly the size of two football fields, Cartwright said.

Hydrazine is similar to chlorine or ammonia in that it affects the lungs and breathing tissue, the general said.

The option of striking the satellite with a missile launched from an Aegis cruiser was decided upon by President Bush after consultation with several government and military officials and aerospace experts, said Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey.

"After further review of this option and, in particular, consideration of the question of saving or reducing injury to human life, the president, on the recommendation of his national and homeland teams, directed the Department of Defense to carry out the intercept," Jeffrey said.

The goal is to hit the satellite just before it enters Earth's atmosphere and blast it apart so that the hydrazine tank explodes. The smaller debris would be more likely to burn up in the atmosphere.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said there's nothing the military can do to make the outcome worse.

"If we miss, nothing changes. If we shoot and barely touch it, the satellite is just barely in orbit" and would still burn up somewhat in the atmosphere, Griffin said.

"If we shoot and get a direct hit, that's a clean kill and we're in good shape," he added.

Experts said that with three-quarters of Earth covered in water, there's a 25 percent chance the satellite's remnants will hit land -- and a 1 percent chance they will hit a populated area.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/02/14/spy.satellite/index.html

[rcecale]

Originally Posted by Moses

As soon as it enters the atmosphere they will know where it's likely to land. Two thirds chance it's over the ocean. Oh well. Another excuse to spend a few million tax dollars and blow ***** up.

I'm not positive, but I believe I heard somewhere that should this thing hist the ocean, it's actually big enough for the impact to create quite a huge ripple affect across the ocean...something like that.

Randy

[Moses]

Originally Posted by rcecale

I'm not positive, but I believe I heard somewhere that should this thing hist the ocean, it's actually big enough for the impact to create quite a huge ripple affect across the ocean...something like that.

Randy

I thought it was the size of a bus?

[flashgordon13]

I hope the thing crashes into my driveway and hits my wifes car. She keeps bugging me to get a new car and I would love to have uncle sam pay for it for me.

[island911]

They are not blowing up a whale on the beach,

Just guessing, a military sat not a light weight piece of foil. It's said to have some fuel on board that would make a nasty cloud if it makes it thru to land.

[Jims5543]

I am not rocket scientist but........


Why not take some sort of rocket motor up in a shuttle, strap it to the satellite and blast it into deep space.


Blowing stuff up is always more fun though.

[lfot]

Anyone bother to think that this is an easy way for the US to demonstrate to, uhmmm, certain countries with their own satellites, that we DO have the technology to shoot them down?

[island911]

Originally Posted by Jim Cesiro

...

Blowing stuff up is always more fun though.

And, in this case, makes a point about our capabilities.

[slodave]

From Reuters:

SIGNAL TO CHINA?

Jeffries and other U.S. officials rejected suggestions that Bush opted to shoot down the satellite out of concern that classified material on board could survive reentry into Earth's atmosphere, and potentially land in the wrong hands.

They also said Washington was not shooting the satellite down in response to China's anti-satellite test last year, noting the United States had already demonstrated its capability to hit a space object with a missile in the 1980s.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1447206620080214?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=10005

[lfot]

Yeah, right.

[dbrisson]

Does anyone really think that someone made the decision to manually decay the orbit with a rocket by chance. That there wasn't months of analysis that went into the decision.

We were upset at the chinese because they didn't just shoot at their own birds, they targeted a few of ours. http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10533205

The real question is do you want the paylod to be dissected by a foreign power, if it did make it al the way back. Not to reproduce it but to understand the capabilities.

In the art of war its not just being able to copy the enemy but to accurately know what they are capable of in order to determine effective countermeasure.

[Moses]

That satellite is probably loaded with pics of WMD's in Iraq.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Moses

That satellite is probably loaded with pics of WMD's in Iraq.

Naw, it was a satellite designed to take pictures of neked people on nude beaches. We wouldn't want to be labeled as peeping toms.

[Flatbutt1]

as I said, very interesting

[Jim Sims]

There are either ulterior motives or this is further confirmation that the highest levels of our government (and we as a people, through our election choices) are exceedingly poor at judging risk (probability versus consequences). Ponder a moment how the hydrazine (the stuff is made by Olin in Lake Charles, LA.) arrived at Vandenberg AFB or wherever this bird originated: tanker or semi-truck or rail car on highways, roads and rails through urban areas large and small. Along with hundreds of thousands (millions?) of other hazardous shipments, some of which may crash, burn, explode and out gas in a neighborhood near you.