Watch Out!!

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
15,441
150
63
Wouldn't it depend on how fast the orbiting satellite is moving? If the Chinese can shoot down a satellite, I see no reason why the Americans can't. Maybe they should arm the shuttles and future vehicles with weapons :D Oh wouldn't that bring cries;)
 

dancing-loon

House Member
Oct 8, 2007
2,739
36
48
High seas could delay U.S. satellite potshot


February 20, 2008 at 12:17 PM EST
WASHINGTON — High seas in the north Pacific may force the Navy to wait another day before launching a heat-seeking missile on a mission to shoot down a wayward U.S. spy satellite, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Weather conditions are one of many factors that U.S. military officers are taking into account as they decide whether to proceed with the mission Wednesday or to put it off, according to a senior military officer who briefed reporters at the Pentagon on condition that he not be identified.
The officer said the assumption had been that the mission would go forward Wednesday night, unless conditions are determined to be unfavorable. Earlier in the day, bad weather in the north Pacific was causing rough seas, which may be a problem for the USS Lake Erie, a cruiser armed with two SM-3 missiles.
Read whole story here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...y/Science/home

Don't you just love this mystery suspense story?? Everybody cleared the sea and the sky for tonight, and nothing is going to happen.... maybe!! May have to start all over again tomorrow!
I just realize I've been making a mistake by naming the missile a rocket! Sorry!
 

dancing-loon

House Member
Oct 8, 2007
2,739
36
48
The sky is falling. So what?


February 20, 2008 at 4:52 PM EST
Washington — Giant chunks of man-made space junk — like the dead satellite that the U.S. government is trying to shoot down — regularly fall to Earth. Yet no one has ever been reported hurt by them.:lol:
Chunks of debris weighing two tonnes or more from satellites and rocket parts fall uncontrolled every three weeks or so, according to an analysis by a Harvard University astronomer who tracks satellites and space debris.
And that's just based on the last three years. Go back a decade or so when countries didn't try to control these falling objects. Back then, two-ton chunks fell to Earth much more frequently said Jonathan McDowell, who runs Jonathan's Space Report, which tracks the world's space launches and satellites.
It's likely that 50 to 200 “large” pieces of man-made space debris return to Earth every year, according to the Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies. Bill Ailor, the center's director, like those at NASA's Johnson Space Center, said he was asked by the government not to comment specifically on the current satellite re-entry issue.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...y/Science/home

Amazing, how much junk we have carted up there!! Put that in dollars!!!!
 

lone wolf

Grossly Underrated
Nov 25, 2006
32,493
212
63
In the bush near Sudbury
Wouldn't it depend on how fast the orbiting satellite is moving? If the Chinese can shoot down a satellite, I see no reason why the Americans can't. Maybe they should arm the shuttles and future vehicles with weapons :D Oh wouldn't that bring cries;)

I'm sort of guessing that's why US is trying for the shot. Seems to me there was something in the news about a fuel dump from a satellite being visible in the night skies over Nothern Ontario, Quebec and on into the Maritimes just about a month ago. Bad for the ego to be outshone by the new kid on the block.

FUBAR = Fu**ed Up Beyond Any Recovery

Woof!
 

dancing-loon

House Member
Oct 8, 2007
2,739
36
48
We can all rest in peace now!

Got it!

U.S. Navy missile hits wayward spy satellite on first attempt


ROBERT BURNS
February 21, 2008 at 12:47 AM EST
WASHINGTON — A U.S. navy missile soaring 209 kilometres above the Pacific smashed a dying and potentially deadly spy satellite Wednesday and probably destroyed a tank carrying 454 kilograms of toxic fuel.
And the lunar eclipse is over, too .... now I can go to bed - all is well!:-D
 

MikeyDB

House Member
Jun 9, 2006
4,612
63
48
Let's see now...

America builds and launches "spy satellites" that fail and then they have to shoot it down...

No wonder there were conflicting reports about WMDs in Iraq!

Maybe the U.S. should launch Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell into orbit!

If you tell enough Americans that "We need to spend billions of spy satellites to ensure the safety of America....but then we might have to shoot them down so we need a missile defence system...and we have to act on "intelligence" we've gleaned from our web of spy satellites that told us that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.......

Gosh but it does get confusing....