"Navy gunners in the Pacific were watching the sea and sky Wednesday..."
Posted on 02/20/2008 9:07:08 AM PST by maquiladora
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Navy gunners in the Pacific were watching the sea and sky Wednesday, waiting for perfect conditions to take a kill shot on an errant satellite 150 miles above them.
hey have just a 10-second window to fire, a Pentagon official said, and may not be able to take their shot on their first opportunity at 10:30 p.m. ET Wednesday.
"It's not enough to say 'no,' but we're watching the weather," the official told reporters at the Pentagon. "It's on the margin."
The cruiser USS Lake Erie will get one 10-second window each of the next nine or 10 days to fire an interceptor missile that will destroy the faltering spy satellite before it can tumble to Earth and -- possibly -- release a cloud of toxic gas.
The Pentagon said the window of opportunity to strike the 5,000-pound satellite opened Wednesday, when the space shuttle Atlantis landed in Florida. The Pentagon wanted to be sure the shuttle would not be struck by any debris from a destroyed satellite.
But the official said conditions have to be perfect, and that was not the case Wednesday with swells in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii running slightly higher than Navy would like.
The National Weather Service forecast 12- to 15-foot seas west of Hawaii Wednesday with a storm developing in the area.
The United States plans to spend up to $60 million to try to destroy the satellite even though there is only a remote possibility the satellite could fall to Earth, survive re-entry and spew toxic gas in a populated area, said James Jeffrey, deputy national security adviser.
"The regret factor of not acting clearly outweighed the regret factor of acting," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
NASA has a peace policy......really...Lots of peaceniks at that place that have no use for the military.
This tank is 40 inches diameter. Hitting that would be remarkable.
LAUNCH AIRCRAFT!
Missle misses. Explodes upon re-entry, leaving a trail of baked lasagna and missle parts across two oceans.
Yes, it would! That would make quite a statement, wouldn't it?
This is essentially another test mission, so I'm not surprised they're waiting for optimum conditions.
i'm planning to stay up to watch the lunar eclipse and viewing this would be icing on the cake.
This might help visualizing the geometry
http://www.heavens-above.com/orbitdisplay.asp?satid=29651
If we do this it’s going to create a lot of upset folks around the world!
Will be fun to read the KOS and DU sites if this works!
i guess i’ll have to be content with the lunar eclipse.
"Navy gunners in the Pacific were watching the sea and sky Wednesday..."
It’s the full moon, too, which means there are already a lot of people growing claws and teeth and showing a lot of white eye.
A couple days ago someone in this program mentioned the reverse engineering issues if intact pieces landed where they shouldn’t. The idiot infobabe — on MSNBC, I think — was shocked and asked, “You mean other countries could find parts of it and copy them for themselves!?!” (not verbatim, but close) Well DUH!
I’m sure KOS and DU will say either
a. It missed and the satellite actually blew up when it hit the atmosphere.
or
b. The missile was just cover for our ‘killer satellites’ that are in violation of some treaty.
Middle east Pacific? No, middle west Pacific.
Also, the missile doesn't carry an explosive warhead and the missile's contrail will be far to the west of Hawaii.
But if it turns out it makes a great show for someone, that's fine by me!
I think that nuke (plutonium?) on board and ASAT test are the two most plausible justifications.
I had assumed that USAF would do the shooting with an ASAT. The fact that the Navy is doing.....from the surface!... with a Super Standard is just awesome.
.
I hope they do this the first time, I really do.
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