US Planning To Shoot Down Disabled Satellite
The Associated Press is reporting that the US is planning to shoot down the broken satellite that is expected to fall to earth sometime in March. The plan calls for a specially modified missile to be fired from a Navy cruiser.
U.S. officials said Thursday that the option preferred by the Bush administration will be to fire a missile from a U.S. Navy cruiser, and shoot down the satellite before it enters Earth's atmosphere.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the options will not be publicly discussed until a later Pentagon briefing.
The disabled satellite is expected to hit the Earth the first week of March. Officials said the Navy would likely shoot it down before then, using a special missile modified for the task. Other details about the missile and the targeting were not immediately available.
But the decision involves several U.S. agencies, including the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Defense and the State Department. 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.
When the existence of the failed satellite was revealed, the AP and others went on and on about how the satellite threatened the earth. Let's face it, the satellite is going to fall and if it is all in one piece when it does so, there is a real chance it could hit something. (It actually isn't all that great a chance, incidentally.) But they may have some idea when and where the satellite may hit now. They may see the shootdown as a "least worst" option, depending on where it is now predicted to hit. There also may be security concerns since about 50% of the satellite is expected to survive reentry.
By martian, Thursday, 14 February , 2008 @ 1:05 pm
Debris isn’t really a big concern if they hit it right with a good warhead. That should break it into small enough pieces that no individual piece of debris would be large enough to survive re-entry. Hit it right and, depending on the the time of day in the part of the world where the debris re-enters, the biggest effect should be a nice little faux meteor shower - visually appealing, but no threat to anyone.
By Mockinbird, Thursday, 14 February , 2008 @ 2:20 pm
I kinda hope the biggest piece of debris falls on Hillary.
By Gaius, Thursday, 14 February , 2008 @ 2:25 pm
It wouldn’t dare.
By NortonPete, Thursday, 14 February , 2008 @ 3:10 pm
I agree with martian, as the satellite’s orbit decays and it begins to descend, a hit will drop it in a steep trajectory probably over the pacific. Why? because as all us physics types know, as soon as the forward motion is slowed the earth’s gravity becomes the greater force.
The footprint of debris might be 1000 miles but over the ocean.
By NortonPete, Thursday, 14 February , 2008 @ 3:11 pm
I wanted to add that I beleive the Chinese hit their satellite in a much higher orbit leaving the debris in orbit?
By Maggie, Thursday, 14 February , 2008 @ 8:55 pm
Let’s face it, the satellite is going to fall and if it is all in one piece when it does so, there is a real chance it could hit something. (It actually isn’t all that great a chance, incidentally.) But they may have some idea when and where the satellite may hit now. They may see the shootdown as a "least worst" option, depending on where it is now predicted to hit. There also may be security concerns since about 50% of the satellite is expected to survive reentry.
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The BIGGEST threat if this happened? Somebody beats our Navy/SEALs to the crash site to salvage/retrieve it … and the "toxic fuel" supply … and the technology … and any other [matter] of importance that might survive the impact.
Blow it into smaller pieces and they are more likely to be completely useless by any means … upon re-entry burn-up.
By Sam, Thursday, 14 February , 2008 @ 9:54 pm
From what I read, there is concern about the fuel on board exploding on impact. But who knows? I can see two advantages from shooting a missile at it. Test the equipment,Show other countries what we can do, More rubble, less trouble.Make that three advantages . . .
By OldeForce, Thursday, 14 February , 2008 @ 10:23 pm
We’ve had the technology to do this for about twenty years and, from one news report today, have used it successfully. I’ve been hearing about this for years from a "usually reliable, but can’t be named" source.
There were also experiments using a fighter jet and "stacked" air-to-air missles that could be used as a last-ditch weapon against an incoming ICBM. The jet reaches max altitude, fires a missle which gets to it’s max range, then releases a second missle. Better than standing in the back yard with your 12-gauge.