Science and Society

I wonder which poses the most danger, the satellite, or the failed rocket sent up to shoot it down? Quick! Hand me that foil hat!

The problem comes if we can't hit the thing - what would that reveal to the Russkies and Chinese about our capabilities.

The military is being very loud about all of this at the same time our Russian and Chinese opponents are pushing hard for a treaty to outlaw weapons in space. There's more to this than the media has been aware of, I think.

The Russians and the Chinese have watched our previous failures. They know what we're capable of. The Chinese hit theirs, apparently, on the first try. The push for outlawing weapons in space is largely a joke, since everyone is pushing to get weapons in space. The Chinese and Russians want bases on the moon. We'd better get our stuff togetner and get one there, too, or we'll be left with our worst enemies holding a large rock over our heads. The propaganda of not weaponizing space is nothing more than that: propaganda. Otherwise, why all the spy satellites?

The only reason we are blowing this up is to keep the intelligence from falling into unfriendly hands. I wish for once the Bush Administration would tell us all the truth. I guess once you are accustomed to lying, it's impossible to stop.

I highly doubt the Russians are much of a threat to us now, but still could do major damage to the U.S. China on the other hand, would kick our respective bums. They're advantage is their numbers. They'd win by a battle of attrition. This said, both Russia and China have much invested in us, as do we. More than poeple know or want to know. Our economies are so intertwined it would be economic suicide for either to attack us or for us to attack them. So it won't happen. Yes, China can knock out a sattalite. Can they knock out another? We don't know, they very well could have gotten lucky. We on the other hand, are quite capable of knocking out balistic missiles with other missiles. This has been tested over and over again. I have confidence in our military to knock it down. But I'm sure China can do the same if they wished. I'm not too worried. But Andy, I'm with you. Get me that foil hat!!

The problem, it's comming back to Earth & could distroy something or hurt someone, yes blow it up. (We all know that's BS. If we find out what's really on it, we'll be ######). If the rocket misses, OK send another. But, what happens to the first one. I mean the reason it's getting sent up there is because the satellite didn't work from day one. What's to say the distruct button on the first rocket is broken too. That's when we'd find out we don't have control of it either. Where the hell will that thing go? Orbit the Earth? Hit a planet? Hit the space station? That's the flip side of the coin. Will NASA just say, "...opp's".

YES!! Put on those tin-foil hats---please!! The little voices you are receiving from the planet ZEON or wherever are making you sound like idiots! The propellant in the satellite is very toxic to any living creature.
The technology in the spy satellite is equally important not to fall into the wrong hands, but your conspiracy crap is getting very old! The truth has been told--it must be destroyed on the way down to avoid possible injury and compromising national security. Try reading the available press releases from planet Earth and the voices from ZEON or the DNC might stop.

Do you actually think that a highly flammable propellant could survive the intense heat of re-entry? No. The propellant tanks are never designed to survive intact for this reason. I don't know if we need to shoot it down, but I DO know we don't need to worry about the propellant. It is something else.

Editor:

The story about the downing of the spy satellite doesn't quite ring true. Over fifteen years ago it was common knowledge in the aerospace industry that there was an anti-satellite weapon in the US Air Force inventory. It was a rocket launched from an F-15 flying at 100,000 feet altitude. Indeed one of the very missions that the F-15 was designed for was an ASAT (anti-satellite) delivery system.

Why hasn't the military made mention of this? Is there another story lurking just below the surface? Or has the Navy presented a more compelling story about the "killing ability" of it's system versus the USAF?

Respectfully submitted,

Lou

Um...RCT, the 'fuel' they speak of that is toxic is Plutonium - not a real big secret to those who know - not 'propellant. Research other satellite data on the web and the hazards of their 'unsuccessful re-entries'. There was one that came down in russia if you recall that had everyone upset for the same reason.

The cost of this shoot down, 74 mil, should be paid by the company that built the SAT and messed up!

Lawrence, You miss one thing about the Chinese. Their complete lack of a sizeable troop transport fleet let alone a Navy that could stand up to our own. We have 10 carrier groups and countless subs. They may have a lot of people but they have no way of moving them. If they tried we could send them all to the bottom promptly. They also shot down a stable satellite going almost 5,000 MPH less than this one. If we succeed in taking this out with a missile from a destroyer it will show we can do the same thing to one of their re-entering warheads. Deterrence here is key. We will never invade China. Why would we? Deterring these guys is the goal of this mission.

I heard today that the satellite was successfully destroyed by a missile.
That reminds me so much of a science fiction book that was published last year called Moon over Key Biscayne. - A light novel that gets into satellites and objects on a collision course with Earth.

Given satellites fall to Earth as a regular occurrence and have similar if not the same fuel, it is most likely an opportunistic reason to test anti-satelite weapons.
They haven't tested all of them I would suspect and a need to test them after China and they took the opportunity.