Satellite Shootdown

So is it going to be shot at tonight?

I just hope they get it. I would not want that poisonous plutonium from the reactor on board errrr hydrazine to be spread all over the place.:rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
satellite sighted shot same

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/02/20/satellite.shootdown/index.html

more confirmation

http://planet4589.org/space/jsr/latest.html

USA 193
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On Feb 21 the USA 193 satellite was in a 242 x 257 km x 58.5 deg orbit.
At 0326 UTC a three stage SM-3 missile was fired from the USS Lake Erie
in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawai'i to intercept the satellite. The US
Dept. of Defense reports that the missile successfully hit USA 193;
visual reports from British Columbia of high altitude debris trails at
0343 UTC, and lack of later observations to date, suggest that the
satellite may have been destroyed.
 
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so what do I do if Piper comes in with a piece of hydazine soaked metal in his mouth?
 
SkyHog said:
so what do I do if Piper comes in with a piece of hydazine soaked metal in his mouth?
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Nothing as Piper will likely be dead long before he can carry it into your house. But if he manages to do it get it out of his mouth without touching it. Start rinsing every thing with copious amounts of fresh water and get you and he to the hospital for treatment to a highly corrosive compound.

Hydrazine is so reactive, volatile, and with such a low flash point, that I think that most of the debris is probably cleansed in passing through the high heat of burn up in the atmosphere. But, apparently at least some of the hydrazine tanks from the Columbia survived passage through Earth’s atmosphere during reentry, so it is quite likely that the same could happen for USA-193. That would most likely be the biggest hydrazine danger, rather than just random pieces of debris being contaminated.
 
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Teller1900 said:
Then what are we going to send up to shoot down the first shot? Or will we just let it end up in orbit somewhere? Sent the dog to get that cat that got the mouse that got...
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It's likely the missile would be unable to achieve any kind of orbit. A ballistic trajectory to intercept the satellite would bring it right back down if it missed.
 
Richard said:
If they are really worried about the hydrazine fuel, why not use that to shoot it to the cosmos?
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The hydrazine powers maneuvering rockets designed to position the satellite in orbit when needed to observe a specific target. Those rockets don't have anywhere near the thrust needed to propel the satellite to escape velocity, which is about 25,000 mph.

Richard said:
No, I do believe there is something on that satellite they don't want them to know about. Or, it's just a great opportunity to test the missle shoot down capabilities of that hit or miss program.
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Yep.
 
Frank Browne said:
It's likely the missile would be unable to achieve any kind of orbit. A ballistic trajectory to intercept the satellite would bring it right back down if it missed.
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As my lawyer buddy would say, it'll come back down whether it missed or not.
 
Five Myths regarding the satellite "shootdown"

Myth No. 1: The Navy missile shot down the satellite.

Myth No. 2: Falling satellites aren’t really hazardous, and since they’ve never hurt anybody before, they were unlikely to hurt anybody this time. Hence, there must have been a secret "real reason" for the missile mission.

Myth No. 3: The hydrazine on the spy satellite was unlikely to reach the ground in any concentration worth worrying about.

Myth No. 4: The missile was aimed directly at the fuel tank, in order to pierce it and let the hazardous contents leak out.

Myth No. 5: The satellite disintegrated into more than 3,000 pieces because the fuel exploded.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23372844
 
I spoke to my son about the satellite. Here is what he told me.

The Navy was able to hit the satellite by aiming a missile toward it. The warhead had a guidance system aboard that fine-tuned its trajectory successfully.

The impact from the warhead cracked open the satellite which allowed the chemicals to vent into space and atmosphere.

There wasn't an explosion. Things don't really explode in space.

The hydrazine fuel had frozen solid and could have injured living beings after falling to Earth.

By breaking the satellite into smaller, less massive pieces, it entered the atmosphere sooner than it would have as a single mass and it burned up more easily as well.

He didn't tell me whether there are still more pieces up there.
 
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