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SeeTheUSA · 02-21-2008, 03:17 AM

Amazing! The Navy hit the defective satellite that was hurtling towards earth with one shot!

Let's see - how much lead is necessary for something traveling at 18,000 mph and hundreds of miles away?

SeeTheUSA · 02-21-2008, 03:17 AM

Amazing! The Navy hit the defective satellite that was hurtling towards earth with one shot!

Let's see - how much lead is necessary for something traveling at 18,000 mph and hundreds of miles away?

Ding-a-ling · 02-21-2008, 04:28 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">
Let's see - how much lead is necessary for something traveling at 18,000 mph and hundreds of miles away? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That's what is known as "Rocket Science."

Riverdog · 02-21-2008, 05:35 AM

The precision of technology today is mind boggling!

jfb · 02-21-2008, 07:37 AM

Wait 'til we hear the libs' take on this. Heard one on a talk show this AM. Another reason for the rest of the world to hate us....

A1RvTech · 02-21-2008, 08:45 AM

Seems like a good way to test some of our military defensive equipment which is ok by me but I find it really had to believe we needed to blow this satellite up to prevent debris from hurting people on earth. I bet those NASA astronauts aboard the space shuttle were glad to be back on earth before we fired off a missile.

Tom N · 02-21-2008, 11:33 AM

China shot down a satellite in January of 2007. It was a weather satellite.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...AR2007011801029.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6289519.stm

"The U.S. believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said yesterday. "We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese."

-Tom

j griff · 02-21-2008, 05:10 PM

As a retired USAF guy I for one am proud our our military and in this particular case, the US Navy. BRAVO ZULU !!
Most of us do not know the danger we may have been had the fuel tank landed in a populated area. I think the Department of Defense and the Administration acted responsibly in ordering the shoot down.

Tugboat · 02-22-2008, 05:27 AM

This is a link of the hit video.

Hit Video

Two Bit · 02-22-2008, 06:30 AM

Friend of mine is a retired NASA engineer (yes! a rocket scientist!). He commented that the concern was the Hydrazine tank that was completely full of the manuvering thruster fuel Hydrazine. Hydrazine is classified as "highly-toxic" and "combustable". Here is the response guide for Hydrazine http://hazmat.dot.gov/pubs/erg/g152.pdf In laymen terms it is classified as "really nasty stuff!".

Because of the nature of Hydrazine, the tanks are made of very robust material that could withstand re-entry, even though the rest of the satellite would have burned up in re-entry. An intact and full hydrazine tank could have impacted the ground and then burst causing a very toxic hazmat incident and fire.

On Feb. 14th FEMA issued a nine page guide to first responders on how to handle the impact point should it have occurred in their jurisdiction. This guide was issued just in case the shoot-down was not sucessful. Proceedures would have been similar to a rail car BLEVE (boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion) of propane. There is a video clip of a BLEVE here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucs5qrR5X0w&NR=1

A similar toxic fireball could have occurred upon the tank impacting the earth.

What made this satellite different from all the others that eventually reenter is that it still contained a full fuel load of hydrazine, and not the normally exhausted supply / empty tanks that decaying satellites usually have.

The accuracy of the shoot-down was equated to a bullet hitting a bullet. Nice shot Navy!

hamguy · 02-22-2008, 11:05 AM

"I bet those NASA astronauts aboard the space shuttle were glad to be back on earth before we fired off a missile."

I fail to understand the implications of that comment. Could you 'splain?

Brigadoon · 02-22-2008, 12:17 PM

I always enjoy a good shot and this was a good one!

Additionally, it was a demonstration to China and others that we can shoot down satellites also.

Tom N · 02-22-2008, 01:45 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Str8Shooter:
Additionally, it was a demonstration to China and others that we can shoot down satellites also. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

The United States has been able to bring down satellites with missiles since the mid-1980s, according to a history of ASAT programs posted on the Union of Concerned Scientists Web site. In its own test, the U.S. military knocked a satellite out of orbit in 1985.