Posted on 02/20/2008 7:51:05 PM PST by TexasBeth
Edited on 02/20/2008 8:10:37 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON (AP) - A missile launched from a Navy ship successfully struck a dying U.S. spy satellite passing 130 miles over the Pacific on Wednesday, a defense official said. Full details were not immediately available.
It happened just after 10:30 p.m. EST.
Two officials said the missile was launched successfully. One official, who is close to the process, said it hit the target. He said details on the results were not immediately known.
The goal in this first-of-its-kind mission for the Navy was not just to hit the satellite but to obliterate a tank aboard the spacecraft carrying 1,000 pounds of a toxic fuel called hydrazine.
U.S. officials have said the fuel would pose a potential health hazard to humans if it landed in a populated area. Although the odds of that were small even if the Pentagon had chosen not to try to shoot down the satellite, it was determined that it was worth trying to eliminate even that small chance.
Officials said it might take a day or longer to know for sure if the toxic fuel was blown up......"
That’s the satellite ‘sploding? cool!
Must go give FoxNews website a hit I guess.
Rog-O, and a note to Dinner Jacket: Get over this, *sshole.
Bravo Zulu, the skipper gets a flag and the weps officer gets his own ship.
XO to big-ship commander, next tour, or base commander, his choice. Ship gets a Presidential Unit Citation, a yard period, and ten days' leave.
Wetting down all around on return to base.
Nothing like a successful, real, live-fire test...and against something that really matters too.
Go Navy!
Hey Putin, did you see that you bastard!
I am very interested in the details of this... unfortunately, I’m no longer in a position that I would be assuredly getting them... I’ll have to be content with what the AF releases to the public, and my curiosity has me wanting to hear it now!
A message has been sent to CHINA!!!
“Are you paying attention Putin? Chi-coms? Chia Pet? Mullah-bullahs?”
Don’t forget all the Democrats in the 1980’s that said we were not capable of this type of technology, that it was too expensive, and that it would only worsen tensions between the U.S. and the Soviets.
TIMES Magazine 1984
“The Democrats believe that the President’s embrace of antimissile weapons will fan fears that he is a trigger-happy nuclear cowboy.”
How kind of you! The feeling, sir, is mutual.
The government organized hazardous materials teams, under the code name “Burnt Frost,” to be flown to the site of any dangerous or otherwise sensitive debris that might land in the United States or elsewhere.
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LOL... yeah, I just bet they were mostly interested in the “dangerous debris” of a spy satellite...
This reminds me so much of “Ice Station Zebra” I just about can’t stand it! Gotta get it out and watch that flick soon, now!
Ouch! You know, I hadn't even thought of that. :)
I understand that the US spends 5B$ - yes, $5,000,000,000 - for Halloween candy every year.
Certainly, it cost less than that.
I think it is a SPECTACULAR day!
You sound like a real sour puss.
“how is this acheivement much different from China recently shooting one if its own satellites in space? I realize the difference of the excess space junk vs. allowing the debris to burn up. Primarily interested in contrasting the technology.”
As some very smart Freepers have told me...The Chinese shot their satellite while it was in a stable orbit and it might have had a beacon that they could hone in on. They also shot theirs from a stable land based platform.
Big Difference! We are basically showing the Chicoms and the Ruskies that we can shot down fast moving ‘objects’ from anywhere in the world (a moving sea based platform)!!
ha, I stand corrected!
“The satellite that was shot down had only the heat signature of the sun’s light reflect on it.”
Well, sort of. It was warmed by the sun and was observed against a space background, which is very cold in the IR, like 3K in the ideal, but more like 80K in practice close to Earth. So if the sat were as cold as ice, the temperature difference would be 273-80= 193. If the sat has been warmed to “room temperature” the delta would be bigger.
It’s possible with the right gear to “see” an ice cube on a dry ice background.
If the pic of the kinetic killer above is accurate, the IR camera has a large aperture, corresponding to a large sensitivity.
I’m not buying this crap. This has NOTHING to do with the fuel.
It’s the technology, stupid!
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid immediatly released a press release calling the missile hit a failure of the Bush Administration.
(algore blamed suv’s and called for an orbital space offset tax.)
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