Buzz Out Loud Lounge forum: U.S. satellite gonna come down on Earth in...somewhere...

http://www.nasawatch.com/

http://www.spaceref.com/

http://www.space.com/

http://www.onorbit.com/

http://www.globalsecurity.org/

http://www.space.com/news/ap-080214-spy-satellite-shootdown.html
excerpt:
*****
The U.S. Defense Department is planning to shoot down a broken spy satellite expected to hit the Earth in early March, the Associated Press has learned.
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.
[...]
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.
*****

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23166344/
excerpt:
*****
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.

The Navy will fire two or three SM-3 missiles from a cruiser and destroyer off the Northwest coast of Hawaii. The SM-3's which are more of a medium-range interceptor have to be modified more fuel and new software to reach the disabled spy satellite in orbit. If the intercept and kill are successful and the satellite is destroyed, it appears most of the debris will become orbitting "space junk" and not reenter Earth's atmopshere.
*****


darn it! I don't think it's a good idea to blow up stuff in space - the debris field can be a hassle to deal with for current and future uses of Low Earth Orbit.

Best,
Shalin

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23172469

excerpt:
*****
Hydrazine is a nasty chemical that could poison the area where it is released. Until recently, U.S. officials were saying that the tank would be crushed as the satellite fell through the atmosphere, sometime in early March. If that were the case, the toxic hydrazine would almost certainly be burned off and safely dispersed during the fiery fall.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin sketched out a different scenario, however, during Thursday's news conference with Gen. James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Griffin said NASA experts calculated that the hydrazine was frozen solid due to the satellites yearlong drift through the cold of space. The tank, with its half-ton ice core of hydrazine, would thus become one of the most perfect re-entry vehicles ever to fall back to Earth.

Griffin explained that the contents of the tank could turn to slush during the fall, but would very likely survive and leak toxic gas over the crash site. Another expert told msnbc.com privately that the solid ice would provide structural support against the 20 to 25 Gs of deceleration experienced by the satellite during re-entry.
*****

okay, last thread addition until something more significant is worth informing folks about

Best,
Shalin

controversy surrounds purpose behind satellite shoot-down...

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/02/15/spy-satellite-challenge.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/NATION/190574197/1001

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/fishy-rationale.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL1587228120080215?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews&rpc=22&sp=true

...who knows! ya know? I mean...

All I gotta say is that I'm pretty disappointed that there's gonna be more debris up there.

--S

Yeah, I can understand the issue of practicing it - and who knows whether this is a genuine coincidence or a convenient cover...

I just haven't heard/read that a safe deorbit and burn-up is the end-goal - I've just heard/read that the end goal is to eliminate or drastically reduce the implications of hydrazine coming down on people and we'll just have to deal with more space debris. If you know of something that says a re-entry burn-up is a top tier objective after addressing the hydrazine, lemme know 'cause I guess I missed it.

Too bad and automated deorbit module isn't available, that'd help out a lot in both verifying new launch and guidance systems as well as reducing space debris. There was a program that tested a portion of such a system a few years ago, but I dunno what, if anything is going on with it now:
http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news/dart/
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/dart/main/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DART_(spacecraft)
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050422_dart_update.html

Best,
Shalin

it's my time to go.

an old Chinese weather satellite was destroyed 537 miles above Earth. The missile carried a "kill vehicle" and destroyed the satellite by ramming it.

The test took place on January 11.

One difference between both scenarios is that the debris from the China satellite remains in orbit.

Most of the debris should de-orbit and burn up within the 3 days. I believe they said that they would know more in the next 24 hrs. One thing they are really looking for is whether or not they successfully hit the fuel tank to rupture and disperse the hydrazine in orbit.

-Mike

Let's the face the fact that we're all going to die, except for little Buzz of course because he's immortal.

Hey, the last US satellite landed in good ol' Australia, in southern WA (Western Australia, not Washington).
Fortunately the clean up from the debris of SkyLab was paid for, as the US government was slapped with a AU$400 for littering by the local council. Kinda funny I think...


See:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/us-spy-satellite-debris-may-hit-australia/2008/02/02/1201801098875.html

hmm...it might hit "land in the ocean"...8th continent...

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/weve_found_the_8th_continentand_it_isnt_pretty_8890.asp

Good news for now. I hope the good news continues in the days to come.

Living in Hawaii is awesome. At least it is now. A few hours ago, it wasn't that great.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/news/2008/space-080220-satellite-shootdown.htm

excerpt:
*****
This action is not only unnecessary (over the decades many space objects including the large Skylab manned space station have re-entered the atmosphere and no one on Earth has ever been hit by the resulting de-orbiting debris), but it is illogical. [...]

We have more objects in space than any other nation and it is counterproductive to intercept the errant U.S. spy satellite. The explosive encounter will create a cloud of debris that rivals or perhaps even surpasses that caused by the recent Chinese government's test of their anti-satellite intercept technology. In effect, the U.S. intercept mission will serve as yet another ASAT test (continuing a series of such experiments performed by both America and Russia in the Eighties).

[...]

Once again, this whole affair points to one of the major flaws in humankind's utilization of outer space. [...] These so-called "space tugs" have been written about for decades. But, it is wasteful, and illogical for NASA and other space agencies not to have invested significant funding into the development of such orbital maintenance platforms. Imagine how many space assets (the Mir space station, Skylab, Apollo command modules, not to mention ultrasecret intelligence satellites and countless other strategically (and historically) significant objects) could have been salvaged over the last few decades IF mankind had developed this technology.
*****

Okay, no more posts on this topic from me unless something truly newsworthy happens.

Best,
Shalin