U.S. set to pull trigger on wonky spy satellite

[Psycho4Bud]

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon says the military's attempt to shoot down a wayward U.S. spy satellite as it falls toward Earth could happen as early as tonight, but no final decision on timing has been made.

Press secretary Geoff Morrell says senior military officers, including the head of the U.S. Strategic Command, are evaluating the situation and will advise Defence Secretary Robert Gates on the best time to carry it out.

The plan is to fire a missile that would release a non-explosive device -- on a path that would enable it to collide with the satellite, destroying the spacecraft and its components by force of impact alone.

The satellite is orbiting about 210 km above Earth.

It is carrying an almost-full tank of rocket fuel, the toxicity of which would pose a threat to human health in the event the satellite crashed in a populated area.
edmontonsun.com - World- U.S. set to pull trigger on wonky spy satellite (http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/World/2008/02/20/4861276-sun.html)

But how do "other" nations see this?

China and Russia have expressed concerns over the plan, saying that it represents a veiled weapons test and that it is the first step in a new, space-based phase of the arms race.
Out-of-control satellite to be shot down tonight - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/20/wsatellite120.xml)

Maybe the pot calling the kettle black?

Washington has denied accusations that the interception is a show of strength after China's successful shooting down of a weather satellite in January 2007. It also denies that it is hiding technological secrets by destroying the satellite.

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

[yokinazu]

i think i agree with china and russia. but hell how are we supposed to know if it works with out trying it out. so i say go for it.
on a side note thy have 3 missles to fire at it at a cost of 10mil per. i hope with that price tag they get it in the first shot

[silkyblue]

they need to shoot all satellites down, they are the core of the ozone problem (

they are there because of this nosey ass world !

theyd put cams in our homes if they could!

BRING ALL THE SATELLITES DOWN!

[keeko]

they need to shoot all satellites down, they are the core of the ozone problem (

they are there because of this nosey ass world !

theyd put cams in our homes if they could!

BRING ALL THE SATELLITES DOWN!

i think satellites are important in our space exploration. if we shot them all down we would be back to square one on searching for distant life.

[silkyblue]

think satellites are important in our space exploration. if we shot them all down we would be back to square one on searching for distant life.


distant life is here

on this planet!

roflmfao!

[psteve]

Wonky. :D
I don't have anything to add.
I just love saying that word.
Wonky. :D

[Psycho4Bud]

Wonky. :D
I don't have anything to add.
I just love saying that word.
Wonky. :D

LOL....that's why I picked this version of the article. Wonky...:lol5:

Have a good one!

[zeitgeist]

why not just send it to the sun? Seems like the easiest thing to do

[8182KSKUSH]

There will soon be a day when ships will not be able to escape earth's orbit unless we start shooting satellites down. It also rules that we can knock out other countries sats!:thumbsup:

[McLeodGanja]

Is it possible that it could be both a stray satellite that needs terminating AND an opportunity to test out some new space missiles?

[8182KSKUSH]

Is it possible that it could be both a stray satellite that needs terminating AND an opportunity to test out some new space missiles?

Man you must be on some shit today brother!;)
I think you are right, also it is an opportunity for the enemies of America to pipe up. And on goes the news cycle until 234.4559 hours from now when no one cares!

Until somewhere, someday, an entire population wakes up and finds out that all means of electronic communication are 86'd! Imagine selectively targeting satellites or even better keeping soldier sats up with the mission of seeking and destroying other sats.
:D
Or even better, that all electronics cease to operate period, instant 100% Electronic Blackout. Nothing! All the oil in the world won't matter at all. Imagine a bomb detonating in proximty to a target but still in the air, and within a range instantly frying every electronic circuit within the target area rendering them useless.
CHANGE BABY!

10 millon is kinda a drop in the bucket in the scheme of things when you consider the potential future uses for this technology and the technology that will be built ontop of the current.
Does that make sense?:wtf:

Kinda makes "oil dependancy" seem like a worry from yesterday. Yeah go ahead turn off the pipes dummy see how good that works when we really do literally put you "back into the stone age." I think this is the next generation type of stuff that we are seeing. How exciting is today, what with the space shuttle coming back, the lunar eclipse, and the satellite that we are going to use as an example, wow what a great day! Technology Wars! America is always leading the way and I suspect this is the beginning of a new way for America to use it's might to leverage the rest of the world!!!
Fuck yeah!:D

[McLeodGanja]

The defence industry loves a good war you know, it's good for business. They often use it as a platform to launch commercial videos demonstrating the usefulness of their high tech killing machines (of course all the missiles fired in them don't kill anyone, but they hit their target all right!)

Let's face it a lot of this shit there's not other way to test if it really works.

It could also be, knowing fine well the spectrum of reaction they will receive globally, a bit of gun toting.

[Markass]

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon says the military's attempt to shoot down a wayward U.S. spy satellite as it falls toward Earth could happen as early as tonight, but no final decision on timing has been made.

Press secretary Geoff Morrell says senior military officers, including the head of the U.S. Strategic Command, are evaluating the situation and will advise Defence Secretary Robert Gates on the best time to carry it out.

The plan is to fire a missile that would release a non-explosive device -- on a path that would enable it to collide with the satellite, destroying the spacecraft and its components by force of impact alone.

The satellite is orbiting about 210 km above Earth.

It is carrying an almost-full tank of rocket fuel, the toxicity of which would pose a threat to human health in the event the satellite crashed in a populated area.
edmontonsun.com - World- U.S. set to pull trigger on wonky spy satellite (http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/World/2008/02/20/4861276-sun.html)

But how do "other" nations see this?

China and Russia have expressed concerns over the plan, saying that it represents a veiled weapons test and that it is the first step in a new, space-based phase of the arms race.
Out-of-control satellite to be shot down tonight - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/20/wsatellite120.xml)

Maybe the pot calling the kettle black?

Washington has denied accusations that the interception is a show of strength after China's successful shooting down of a weather satellite in January 2007. It also denies that it is hiding technological secrets by destroying the satellite.

Have a good one!:jointsmile:


lol, a fucking space based phase of the arms race?? good grief...why, so they can shoot meteors and aliens with missles like on a video game? jeez louise..

[dragonrider]

Looks like we have two threads on this subject. Here's the other one: http://boards.cannabis.com/current-events/148143-prepared-duck-sometime-around-february.html

They blasted the thing earlier this evening: SPACE.com -- Navy Hits Satellite With Heat-Seeking Missile (http://www.space.com/news/080220-satellite-hit.html)

Defense Department: Navy missile hits dying spy satellite - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/02/20/satellite.shootdown/index.html)

[bluebird]

We're just turning this into a pissing contest with China. That's all. It's the standard bull we have to put up with from governments. It's a power display; that's all. It's like a chimp bearing it's canines and thrusting out it's chest. We just want to prove to China that the US is still the "shiznit," that we're still awesome, that we're still so completely confident in our ability to be the best that we will get all defensive and insist on blowing something up to prove we're men again.........


Whoa, lol, *steps off of soapbox*

[dragonrider]

We're just turning this into a pissing contest with China. That's all. It's the standard bull we have to put up with from governments. It's a power display; that's all. It's like a chimp bearing it's canines and thrusting out it's chest. We just want to prove to China that the US is still the "shiznit," that we're still awesome, that we're still so completely confident in our ability to be the best that we will get all defensive and insist on blowing something up to prove we're men again.........


Whoa, lol, *steps off of soapbox*

Yeah, this is true. We are trying to prove we are badasses. But part of the purpose of this chimpanzee behaviour is to AVOID a fight. If we can prove we are badasses now by shooting down OUR OWN satelite, then maybe we won't have to prove it later by shoting down one of THEIR satelites.

[FreshNugz]

lol, a fucking space based phase of the arms race?? good grief...why, so they can shoot meteors and aliens with missles like on a video game? jeez louise..

Sounds ridiculous, but its true man. It is a space based arms race. Did you know pretty much everything you do in a day is dependent on satellite communications? Going to the bank, using GPS, cash machines, your cell phone...tons of shit. All cuz of satellites. The point of them 'testing' their stuff is to remind eachother that one missile launch into an enemy satellite would cripple that country economically, to the extent of which we've never seen. In our world, being so technologically dependent has opened up the idea of space based warfare.
It's star wars..for real :cool:
scary...ridiculous sounding...but very true.

[dragonrider]

Yeah but Buddha had a better idea, make friends with your enemy.

I've always found that a good way to avoid a fight with some asshole. I usually explain to them that I really have no interest in fighting, and that I'm not very good at it. Usually they either respond by shaking my hand and apologising, or they walk off thinking they are hard, which is easy for me to brush off because usually I know that if I really went ballistic at them I could probably kill them. But I don't want to. All the ones I couldn't handle tend not blow about how hard they are, because they don't need to.

I don't put America in the latter category, they are too fucking stupid. (the government)

Too much gun toting usually results in a war, eventually.

Theword is longer than themissile, by 3 characters!

Anyone remember that thing in the news recently about the US Navy who were patrolling the sea somewhere in the vicinity of China. Next thing a Chinese submarine comes out of the water, no-one knew it was there.

I usually handle potential fights in much the same way. I think it works on a person-to-person level, but not so well for countries. Preventing fights between countries involves a lot more than the unwillingness of one side to fight. When countries fight it is usually about one trying to take something from the other or somehow infringing on the other's intersts, so the person-to-person analogy is more like trying to prevent a robbery. If you are confronted by a mugger, an unwillingness to fight won't help you. You either have to give the mugger what he wants or put up a fight, in which case it is good to have a weapon.

[dragonrider]

But what I am saying is though, if you got two sides bragging about how big their cocks are, sooner or later one of them is going to pull theirs out and give the other it one up the jacksie.

It takes two to tango.

Hahahahaha! You have a great way with words! "...one up the jacksie!" That cracked me up.

[zebedee]

There was a fuss when china did the same thing, but this is the first I've heard of this.

[melodious fellow]

Looks like we have two threads on this subject. Here's the other one: http://boards.cannabis.com/current-events/148143-prepared-duck-sometime-around-february.html

They blasted the thing earlier this evening: SPACE.com -- Navy Hits Satellite With Heat-Seeking Missile (http://www.space.com/news/080220-satellite-hit.html)

Defense Department: Navy missile hits dying spy satellite - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/02/20/satellite.shootdown/index.html)

Can a really cool mod merge these?

[Herreic68]

who cares what china and Russia think. We have two options
1. Do nothing and let the thing come crashing to earth and possibly kill someone and or pollute the area.
2. Shoot the satellite down with a missile and have the federal government accomplish its only task in life protecting Americans (and redistributing wealth)

[whereishelpicon]

Cool to know we can do it. Imagine the math they had to go through to steer the missile in the right direction so it actually collides with its target. When the target is going 17,000 MPH.