Quote Originally Posted by McLeodGanja
I'd go further and say that there is no threat from a satellite and the US made it up because they want to test some new star wars weapons without drawing any unnecessary media attention.
I'm pretty sure there is a real satelite coming down, but I would not be surprised if they decided to blast it more as a way to test their anti-satelite weapons than out of a concern for public safety. The Chinese blasted one of their own satelietes into smithereens last year, so this might just be a chance to show we can do it too. The problem with the Chinese test was that it was on a satelite in a high orbit, and it created thousands of bits of space junk that will be in orbit for a very long time, creating a hazard to other satelites and spacecraft. This spy satelite is already on a decaying orbit, so it's a good chace to blow one up without having the junk float around forever. All the bits will be comng down soon anyway.
dragonrider Reviewed by dragonrider on . Be prepared to duck sometime around February BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Satellite could plummet to Earth Rating: 5