Pentagon to shoot down broken spy satellite

AP ^ | 02-14-2008 | AP

[montag813]

WASHINGTON - U.S. officials say the Pentagon is planning to shoot down a broken spy satellite expected to hit the Earth in early March.

This is the U.S. military will use a missile to destroy a satellite in space, NBC News reports.

The spy satellite has lost all power and is expected to crash back on earth in early March, spreading debris and potentially hazardous fuel over several hundred miles.

[RayChuang88]

This is not exactly news. I believe the Russians in the past tested this using their Almaz manned military space station.

[Charles Martel]

Won’t this cause a debris cloud similar to the one the Chinese created, endangering the space station, etc.?

Depends on when and where they hit it. If they wait until the satellite is low enough that it's beginning to contact the atmosphere, then most of the little pieces resulting from a missile strike will burn up pretty quickly.

[YouGoTexasGirl]

Time for someone to invent a new space vacuum cleaner!!

[purpleraine]

We were just PO’d because it was China.

[Brian S. Fitzgerald]

Is this satellite in a polar orbit - launched from Vandenberg?

[plsvn]

Won’t this cause a debris cloud similar to the one the Chinese created, endangering the space station, etc.?

Note that they are waiting for USA-193 to come down very low, below the operational height of most if not all low earth orbit satellites. When they try to destroy it then, presumably the debris cloud will remain low and decay relatively quickly... not to say some debris might be ejected into a higher orbit for a while, but hopefully they'll control the collision/destruction in such a way to minimize this.

[nascarnation]

I’m surprised we haven’t sub-contracted this work out TO the Chinese.........

[Constitution Day]

Did you see the Nova show on that recently? Wild stuff.

[rellimpank]

-—I can’t help but have the horrible feeling it may be for “environmental” reasons—like “green” bullets-—

[Charles Martel]

[Tulsa Ramjet]

Coverup.

Alien’s have taken over the device and were planning a covert insertion. good thing it was discovered.

That’s why the government secretly funds concept SCI-FI movies from obscure screewriters. We have stories that lay-out a scenario, it is made into a move (AVP) and then if it really happens, nobody believes it. ingenious.

[saganite]

And that said, who cares?

Anybody who puts a functioning satellite in orbit would be my first guess but I could be wrong. /s/

[theFIRMbss]

>Cool

When normal people
shoot up an old TV set,
you have a few beers

and make it game.
The Feds should let the Navy
make it a contest,

let two task forces
try to shoot down the space junk,
winner gets shore leave . . .

[squidly]

Time for someone to invent a new space vacuum cleaner!!

There are going to be more and more business opportunities for getting rid of space junk. The most interesting sounding idea I've heard (not really a new one) is to electromagnetically push it away from one's vehicle/satellite. Sort of like an electromagnetic bumper. Although I'm not an expert, or well versed in the feasibility of this.

[Redcloak]

The resulting cloud of debris will be in the same decaying orbit as the original satellite. (Less a few bits and pieces that might get enough kinetic energy to move into a higher orbit.) The mess will burn up in the atmosphere. The Chinese blew up a satellite that was in a higher, more stable orbit. Their debris is also in that higher, more stable orbit.

[plsvn]

Is this satellite in a polar orbit - launched from Vandenberg?

USA-193's inclination is 58.5 degrees so isn't "that" polar. The most northerly it gets is Hudson Bay, central Siberia. South end of the orbit gets a far south as the southern tip of South America.

[MeanWestTexan]

Functioning satellites in that orbit has one particular purpose.

[stylin19a]

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the options will not be publicly discussed until a later Pentagon briefing.

can't anybody keep their mouths shut ?

[Brian S. Fitzgerald]

Or - the Russians or Chinese have been able to hack into the software. I’m surprised these satellites don’t have a self-destruct device.

[Captain Rhino]

Check.

This is the Standard Missile variant developed by the Navy to create a sea-based theater anti-ballistic capability for the Missile Defense Agency. It has been successfully tested a number of times.

Shooting down the satellite should be a piece of cake given its size.