US plans to shoot down broken satellite

[Guest H.A.V.0.C]

Ummmm this sort of worries me.

 

 

 

 

 

WASHINGTON - President Bush has ordered the Pentagon to use a Navy missile to attempt to destroy a broken U.S. spy satellite — and thereby minimize the risk to humans from its toxic fuel — by intercepting it just before it re-enters the atmosphere, officials said Thursday.

 

 

The effort — the first of its kind — will be undertaken because of the potential that people in the area where the satellite would otherwise crash could be harmed, the officials said.

 

Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey, briefing reporters at the Pentagon, did not say when the attempted intercept would be conducted, but the satellite is expected to hit Earth during the first week of March.

 

"This is all about trying to reduce the danger to human beings," Jeffrey said.

 

Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the same briefing that the "window of opportunity" for such a shootdown, presumably to be launched from a Navy ship, will open in the next three or four days and last for seven or eight days. He did not say whether the Pentagon has decided on an exact launch date.

 

Cartwright said this will be an unprecedented effort; he would not say exactly what are the odds of success.

 

"This is the first time we've used a tactical missile to engage a spacecraft," Cartwright said.

 

After extensive study and analysis, U.S. officials came to the conclusion that, "we're better off taking the attempt than not," Cartwright said.

 

He said a Navy missile known as Standard Missile 3 would be fired in an attempt to intercept the satellite just prior to it re-entering Earth's atmosphere. It would be "next to impossible" to hit the satellite after that because of atmospheric disturbances, Cartwright said.

 

A second goal, he said, is to directly hit the fuel tank in order to minimize the amount of fuel that returns to Earth.

 

Software associated with the Standard Missile 3 has been modified to enhance the chances of the missile's sensors recognizing that the satellite is its target; he noted that the missile's designed mission is to shoot down ballistic missiles, not satellites. Other officials said the missile's maximum range, while a classified figure, is not great enough to hit a satellite operating in normal orbits.

 

"It's a one-time deal," Cartwright said when asked whether the modified Standard Missile 3 should be considered a new U.S. anti-satellite weapon technology.

 

Cartwright also said that if an initial shootdown attempt fails, a decision will be made whether to take a second shot.

 

Jeffrey said members of Congress were briefed on the plan earlier Thursday and that diplomatic notifications to other countries would be made before the end of the day.

 

Shooting down a satellite is particularly sensitive because of the controversy surrounding China's anti-satellite test last year, when Beijing shot down one of its defunct weather satellites, drawing immediate criticism from the U.S. and other countries.

 

A key concern at that time was the debris created by Chinese satellite's destruction — and that will also be a focus now, as the U.S. determines exactly when and under what circumstances to shoot down its errant satellite.

 

The military will have to choose a time and a location that will avoid to the greatest degree any damage to other satellites in the sky. Also, there is the possibility that large pieces could remain, and either stay in orbit where they can collide with other satellites or possibly fall to Earth.

 

It is not known where the satellite will hit. But officials familiar with the situation say about half of the 5,000-pound spacecraft is expected to survive its blazing descent through the atmosphere and will scatter debris — some of it potentially hazardous — over several hundred miles. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

 

The satellite is outfitted with thrusters — small engines used to position it in space. They contain the toxic rocket fuel hydrazine, which can cause harm to anyone who contacts it. Officials have said there is about 1,000 pounds of propellent on the satellite.

 

Known by its military designation US 193, the satellite was launched in December 2006. It lost power and its central computer failed almost immediately afterward, leaving it uncontrollable. It carried a sophisticated and secret imaging sensor.

[Guest H.A.V.0.C]

WASHINGTON - A missile launched from a Navy cruiser soared 130 miles above the Pacific and smashed a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite Wednesday, the Pentagon said. Two defense officials said it apparently achieved the main aim of destroying an onboard tank of toxic fuel.

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Officials had expressed cautious optimism that the missile would hit the satellite, which was the size of a school bus. But they were less certain of hitting the smaller, more worrisome fuel tank, whose contents posed what Bush administration officials deemed a potential health hazard to humans if it landed intact.

 

In a statement announcing that the attack on the satellite, the Pentagon said, "Confirmation that the fuel tank has been fragmented should be available within 24 hours." It made no mention of early indications, but two defense officials close to the situation said later that it appeared the fuel tank was hit. One said observers saw what appeared to be an explosion, indicating that the tank was hit.

 

Because the satellite was orbiting at a relatively low altitude at the time it was hit by the missile, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere immediately, the Pentagon statement said.

 

"Nearly all of the debris will burn up on re-entry within 24-48 hours and the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days," it said.

 

The USS Lake Erie, armed with an SM-3 missile designed to knock down incoming missiles — not orbiting satellites — launched the attack at 10:26 p.m. EST, according to the Pentagon. It hit the satellite about three minutes later as the spacecraft traveled in polar orbit at more than 17,000 mph.

 

The Lake Erie and two other Navy warships, as well as the SM-3 missile and other components, were modified in a hurry-up project headed by the Navy in January. The missile alone cost nearly $10 million, and officials estimated that the total cost of the project was at least $30 million.

 

The launch of the Navy missile amounted to an unprecedented use of components of the Pentagon's missile defense system, designed to shoot down hostile ballistic missiles in flight — not kill satellites.

 

The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Defense Secretary Robert Gates — not a military commander — made the decision to pull the trigger.

 

Gates had arrived in Hawaii a few hours before the missile was launched. He was there to begin a round-the-world trip, not to monitor the missile operation. His press secretary, Geoff Morrell, told reporters traveling with Gates that the defense chief gave the go-ahead at 1:40 p.m. EST while en route from Washington.

 

Morrell said Gates had a conference call during the flight with Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of Strategic Command, and Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They told him that "the conditions were ripe for an attempt, and that is when the secretary gave the go-ahead to take the shot, and wished them good luck," Morrell said.

 

At 10:35 p.m. EST, Gates spoke to both generals again and "was informed that the mission was a success, that the missile had intercepted the decaying satellite, and the secretary was obviously very pleased to learn that," said Morrell.

 

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.

 

Also, six federal response groups that are positioned across the country by the Federal Emergency Management Agency were alerted but had not been activated Wednesday, FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said before the missile launch. "These are purely precautionary and preparedness actions only," he said.

 

President Bush gave his approval last week to attempt the satellite shootdown on grounds that it was worth trying to destroy the toxic fuel on board the satellite before it could possibly land in a populated area.

 

The three-stage Navy missile, designated the SM-3, has chalked up a high rate of success in a series of tests since 2002, in each case targeting a short- or medium-range ballistic missile, never a satellite. A hurry-up program to adapt the missile for this anti-satellite mission was completed in a matter of weeks; Navy officials said the changes would be reversed once this satellite was down.

 

The government issued notices to aviators and mariners to remain clear of a section of the Pacific Ocean beginning at 10:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, indicating the first window of opportunity to launch the missile.

 

Having lost power shortly after it reached orbit in late 2006, the satellite was out of control and well below the altitude of a normal satellite. The Pentagon determined it should hit it with an SM-3 missile just before it re-entered Earth's atmosphere, in that way minimizing the amount of debris that would remain in space.

 

Left alone, the satellite would have been expected to hit Earth during the first week of March. About half of the 5,000-pound spacecraft would have been expected to survive its blazing descent through the atmosphere and would have scattered debris over several hundred miles.

[TOW-19]

HOWEVER, trace amounts of the radiation has fused with passing meteorites and have caused them to attract to one another, forming one massive, world-shattering asteroid, roughly the size of the state of Texas, and it is now hurtling towards Earth.

Estimated time of impact is just short of 8 days.

Actor Billy Bob Thornton has a plan to assemble a team of oil rig drillers to launch them into space and drill into the asteroid in order to plant a nuclear bomb inside its core, thereby shattering it into space dust.

The team of oil drillers has never, in their experience, handled a nuclear weapon.

If they are successful in training for zero-gravity, drilling in the harsh realm of space and expertly handling and operating a nuclear weapon AND pull off this immense assignment, the rock band Aerosmith is already tapped to play a benefit concert at Cape Canaveral.

 

May God help us all.

[o-BacklasH-o]

Undertow ]

HOWEVER, trace amounts of the radiation has fused with passing meteorites and have caused them to attract to one another, forming one massive, world-shattering asteroid, roughly the size of the state of Texas, and it is now hurtling towards Earth.

Estimated time of impact is just short of 8 days.

Actor Billy Bob Thornton has a plan to assemble a team of oil rig drillers to launch them into space and drill into the asteroid in order to plant a nuclear bomb inside its core, thereby shattering it into space dust.

The team of oil drillers has never, in their experience, handled a nuclear weapon.

If they are successful in training for zero-gravity, drilling in the harsh realm of space and expertly handling and operating a nuclear weapon AND pull off this immense assignment, the rock band Aerosmith is already tapped to play a benefit concert at Cape Canaveral.

 

May God help us all.

 

LOL

[Xx-CHURCHY-xX]

Undertow ]

HOWEVER, trace amounts of the radiation has fused with passing meteorites and have caused them to attract to one another, forming one massive, world-shattering asteroid, roughly the size of the state of Texas, and it is now hurtling towards Earth.

Estimated time of impact is just short of 8 days.

Actor Billy Bob Thornton has a plan to assemble a team of oil rig drillers to launch them into space and drill into the asteroid in order to plant a nuclear bomb inside its core, thereby shattering it into space dust.

The team of oil drillers has never, in their experience, handled a nuclear weapon.

If they are successful in training for zero-gravity, drilling in the harsh realm of space and expertly handling and operating a nuclear weapon AND pull off this immense assignment, the rock band Aerosmith is already tapped to play a benefit concert at Cape Canaveral.

 

May God help us all.

I love that movie. :'(

[o-BacklasH-o]

 

;D

[Guest H.A.V.0.C]

Undertow ]

HOWEVER, trace amounts of the radiation has fused with passing meteorites and have caused them to attract to one another, forming one massive, world-shattering asteroid, roughly the size of the state of Texas, and it is now hurtling towards Earth.

Estimated time of impact is just short of 8 days.

Actor Billy Bob Thornton has a plan to assemble a team of oil rig drillers to launch them into space and drill into the asteroid in order to plant a nuclear bomb inside its core, thereby shattering it into space dust.

The team of oil drillers has never, in their experience, handled a nuclear weapon.

If they are successful in training for zero-gravity, drilling in the harsh realm of space and expertly handling and operating a nuclear weapon AND pull off this immense assignment, the rock band Aerosmith is already tapped to play a benefit concert at Cape Canaveral.

 

May God help us all.

LOL I HOPE SO

[TOW-19]

-ChurcH- ]

I love that movie. :'(

 

Don't cry.....ME TOO.

(But still.....it had to be said LOL)

I like a LOT of stupid movies...... ;D

[Guest H.A.V.0.C]

Well I heard China and Russia where challenging on this ...saying it was just a US attempt to test out their weapon defense system.

[Deutscher75]

and what the hell does Russia know!? They lost the Cold War!

 

China just has too many people, too many opinions, and their communist!

[Guest M16Assassin]

Deutscher75 ]

and what the hell does Russia know!? They lost the Cold War!

 

China just has too many people, too many opinions, and their communist!

 

YEAH what he said!

[Xx-CHURCHY-xX]

Plus we have badass actors who go to space and risk their lives to save the world while repping their country!

Like Bruce Willis!

[TOW-19]

H.A.V.0.C ]

Well I heard China and Russia where challenging on this ...saying it was just a US attempt to test out their weapon defense system.

 

Christ....and you DOUBT that?

ANY country that can boast that it is able to hit a satellite traveling about 17,000mph in polar orbit has some bragging rights....and some muscle to flaunt at the next international homecoming dance, whatever it may be.

 

With human population en mass covering only about 2% of the total land mass on the Earth, and the very land of the Earth itself compromising less than 30% of the Earth's surface, the CHANCES of this satellite hurting anyone, ANYONE, was almost insignificant. As for the strain on the environment from whatever chemicals were on board.....well, when was the LAST time any country's government (specifically the big heads of the military) really concerned with some environmental suffering that a quick and shoddy clean-up couldn't ease on the conscience with the media standing by to spin some good light on it?

[[<+>] mic--]

You know they were testing the weapon defense system. This seems like a lot of trouble to go through just because of one satellite, which probably didn't have much fuel in the tank anyway. When the space ship blew up, it was probably holding more fuel than the satellite, there wasn't a big deal mad about it then. Just my opinion...

[[LA]MAXIMUS666]

Undertow ]

-ChurcH- ]

I love that movie.  :'(

 

Don't cry.....ME TOO.

(But still.....it had to be said LOL)

I like a LOT of stupid movies......  ;D

Some times stupid movies are the best ones.

 

[Guest H.A.V.0.C]

Undertow ]

H.A.V.0.C ]

Well I heard China and Russia where challenging on this ...saying it was just a US attempt to test out their weapon defense system.

 

Christ....and you DOUBT that?

ANY country that can boast that it is able to hit a satellite traveling about 17,000mph in polar orbit has some bragging rights....and some muscle to flaunt at the next international homecoming dance, whatever it may be.

 

With human population en mass covering only about 2% of the total land mass on the Earth, and the very land of the Earth itself compromising less than 30% of the Earth's surface, the CHANCES of this satellite hurting anyone, ANYONE, was almost insignificant. As for the strain on the environment from whatever chemicals were on board.....well, when was the LAST time any country's government (specifically the big heads of the military) really concerned with some environmental suffering that a quick and shoddy clean-up couldn't ease on the conscience with the media standing by to spin some good light on it?

Very true, good point.

[TOW-19]

I fucking HATE pugs.

 

MAXIMUS666 ]

Undertow ]

-ChurcH- ]

I love that movie. :'(

 

Don't cry.....ME TOO.

(But still.....it had to be said LOL)

I like a LOT of stupid movies...... ;D

Some times stupid movies are the best ones.

 

[Guest Stealthknight]

Word on the street is it was a broken SPY Satellite that we had roaming over china

[[LA]MAXIMUS666]

Undertow ]

I fucking HATE pugs.

 

MAXIMUS666 ]

Undertow ]

-ChurcH- ]

I love that movie.  :'(

 

Don't cry.....ME TOO.

(But still.....it had to be said LOL)

I like a LOT of stupid movies......  ;D

Some times stupid movies are the best ones.

 

Even Otis? Thats a shame.

[CZambrano]

MAXIMUS666 ]

Some times stupid movies are the best ones.

 

 

that's probably in my top5 favorite movies ever

[Guest SaTAnS_SoUlJa]

shit would they of rather just let the fucking sattelite hit them? and kill them? shit and for anyone who was worried needs to get their shit straight if the US NAVY says there gonna do something you best believe it gets done right.

[TOW-19]

.APOCALYP5E. ]

shit would they of rather just let the fucking sattelite hit them? and kill them? shit and for anyone who was worried needs to get their shit straight if the US NAVY says there gonna do something you best believe it gets done right.

 

Yeah?

"NAVY SEALS" the movie wasn't all that good.

Navy should have stepped in THEN.

 

LOL

[[LA]MAXIMUS666]

CZambrano ]

MAXIMUS666 ]

Some times stupid movies are the best ones.

 

 

that's probably in my top5 favorite movies ever

Thats what im talking bout CZ!

[o-BacklasH-o]

Undertow ]

.APOCALYP5E. ]

shit would they of rather just let the fucking sattelite hit them? and kill them? shit and for anyone who was worried needs to get their shit straight if the US NAVY says there gonna do something you best believe it gets done right.

 

Yeah?

"NAVY SEALS" the movie wasn't all that good.

Navy should have stepped in THEN.

 

LOL

 

lol

 

Charlie Sheen as a Navy Seal =

 

Now Top Gun on the other hand is a GREAT movie involving the Navy. We can just have Mav and Iceman blow that satellite right out of the sky .

[Xx-CHURCHY-xX]

smokeosama ]

Undertow ]

.APOCALYP5E. ]

shit would they of rather just let the fucking sattelite hit them? and kill them? shit and for anyone who was worried needs to get their shit straight if the US NAVY says there gonna do something you best believe it gets done right.

 

Yeah?

"NAVY SEALS" the movie wasn't all that good.

Navy should have stepped in THEN.

 

LOL

 

lol

 

Charlie Sheen as a Navy Seal =

 

Now Top Gun on the other hand is a GREAT movie involving the Navy. We can just have Mav and Iceman blow that satellite right out of the sky .

 

But then if THAT happens, Val Kilmer won't be able to play KITT's voice until he returns from his journey. :-\