America is going to take out a satellite

[GSVR]

America is going to shoot down a satellite that will crash to earth soon because it contains dangerous gasses.

[JimO]

America is going to shoot down a satellite that will crash to earth soon because it contains dangerous gasses.

they dont want it falling into the wrong hands, like the maori party

[Edbear]

Nah, they just want to show the Chinese that they can hit one at that height as well!

Soon it'll be all guns a blazing as everyone takes pot shots at out of commission satelites to see who's the best shot!

[Steam]

Yep, it's a good excuse to test their anti-sat weapons, or existing weapons that could be tasked for anti-sat roles.
China tested an antisat missile a couple of years ago, but it's a purpose built thing, expensive and clumsy. The Russians have them too but they are like everything else in the former Union; covered in dust and less likely to work with every passing year.
Make no mistake, in a real war the US is capable of taking out every enemy space-based asset. They have heaps of these SM-3 missiles.

Some links to the SM-3
http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-161.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_missile

This is from New Scientist: (http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13324-juryrigged-missile-to-destroy-falling-spysat.html)


The falling satellite is an experimental spy satellite that failed almost immediately after launch in December 2006. It never deployed the solar arrays that normally power such spacecraft, and remained in an orbit so low that atmospheric drag is causing it to spiral towards Earth. The satellite is totally unresponsive, so there is no way to control where it falls.

A Pentagon analysis indicates that about 1100 kilograms of material from the 2.5-tonne satellite will survive re-entry, including a tank containing some 450 kilograms of toxic hydrazine fuel. Although the remains are unlikely to fall in a populated area, the Pentagon says President Bush decided the risk to human lives is high enough to justify shooting down the satellite.

The US destroyed one of its own satellites with an anti-satellite missile in 1985, and the Bush Administration has been spending billions of dollars a year on missile defense. Yet those systems were not equipped to target a satellite, despite the conventional wisdom that satellites are easy targets because their orbits are easy to track and readily predictable.
Software tweaks

Instead the Pentagon is modifying three "Standard Missile 3" interceptors used for the sea-based Aegis element of the missile defense system. Those are now carried on ships stationed in the Sea of Japan for possible interception of short- to intermediate-range North Korean missiles.

The modifications involve changing the software to target a satellite rather than a missile, says David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "This interceptor is really intended for missiles travelling at 3 to 4 kilometres per second; the satellite they're going to be shooting at has a speed of 7 to 8 kilometres per second." Three ships will be involved in the mission, which will occur during a "window of opportunity" from late February to early March.

But the modifications don't sound like major ones to Wright, who told New Scientist the Pentagon "has never wanted to explicitly say the [missile defense] system has an anti-satellite capability, so they're dancing to say that we had to modify the system" to target a satellite. He wonders how China and Russia will respond, especially after their recent proposal for a ban on weapons in space.

Wright also worries about space debris. The target satellite is orbiting at an altitude of about 240 kilometres, so most of the debris should drop out of orbit in hours or days. But the satellite is 2.5 times more massive than the Chinese satellite that scattered a tremendous amount of debris into higher orbits when it was hit in 2007 by an anti-satellite missile. "Do they understand this well enough to quantify the risk to the space station" orbiting at 340 kilometres, he asks.

[mstriumph]

there's more dangerous gasses in the WhiteHouse, methinks ........ oh, sorry, that's just 'hot air'

:shifty:

[GSVR]

Isn't it sad that everyones so sceptical about Americas reasons for doing stuff.

[Steam]

Isn't it sad that everyones so sceptical about Americas reasons for doing stuff.

Maybe I should take GW Bush at his word when he says the war isn't about oil.

Or.

maybe not.

[Shadows]

If it's full of dangerous gases then shouldn't they leave it up there!?!?!!?

[Patar]

If it's full of dangerous gases then shouldn't they leave it up there!?!?!!?

that's the point it's not going to stay up there, it's continually slowing down and it's orbit is getting lower and lower until one day it just goes plop and falls.

[Coyote]

There's more people working in an average fast food joint than people tracking asteroids and comets on a collision course with earth.

I think they should practice getting their aim right, might only get a short notice.

[McJim]

Yeah, we're due to pass through the busy part of the galaxy within the next thousand years or so.

[Finn]

Maybe I should take GW Bush at his word when he says the war isn't about oil.

Just like Helen really cares about NZ.

[onearmedbandit]

She cares about our money though.

[Finn]

The Russians have them too but they are like everything else in the former Union; covered in dust and less likely to work with every passing year.

Funniest Parkinson interview ever...

Parkinson: "What was it like to have your finger over that button?"
Mikhail Gorbachev: "Very scary"
Parkinson: "I can imagine, I mean what if you made the wrong decision?
Mikhail Gorbachev: "No, not like that. I was scared it wouldn't work."

Hilarious.

[Livvy]

It's America. People keep telling them they're not allowed to cause war anymore, they're getting bored and want to shoot SOMETHING... It's just an excuse.

I know some singular Americans who are very similar! :shifty:

[H00dz]

It's America. People keep telling them they're not allowed to cause war anymore, they're getting bored and want to shoot SOMETHING... It's just an excuse.

I know some singular Americans who are very similar! :shifty:

Well said......... "God Bless America" :2guns:

[Mental Trousers]

Conspiracy theory: G Dubya put a target in orbit so the Americans can wave their arse at the Chinese and Russians and say watch this you fuckers as they shoot it down and prove American superiority.

Or maybe that satellite really is broken and dangerous.

[sAsLEX]

Conspiracy theory: G Dubya put a target in orbit so the Americans can wave their arse at the Chinese and Russians and say watch this you fuckers as they shoot it down and prove American superiority.

Or maybe that satellite really is broken and dangerous.

Why would he spend millions on sending a new one up when there is bound to be a heap of older unused ones that he can practise on?

[Livvy]

Why would he spend millions on sending a new one up when there is bound to be a heap of older unused ones that he can practise on?

Because he's a stupid arsehole who likes wasting his country's money simply because he can?

[sAsLEX]

Because he's a stupid arsehole who likes wasting his country's money simply because he can?

If you had toys would you not play with them?


Most missile have a shelf life, maybe he is getting rid of old stock........

[Livvy]

If you had toys would you not play with them?


Most missile have a shelf life, maybe he is getting rid of old stock........

Dear god save us should he wish to play with his new toys.

Call me a cynic, but I don't believe he's as innocent as he tries to act.

I agree with A Perfect Circle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aizz0o9fPWU

[DingoZ]

Nah f...k it. Push the button. Blow that f...ker out of the sky.

[Dave Lobster]

Because he's a stupid arsehole who likes wasting his country's money simply because he can?


SShhh.. there's a lot of that about!!!

[Shadows]

that's the point it's not going to stay up there, it's continually slowing down and it's orbit is getting lower and lower until one day it just goes plop and falls.

I know that mate. I was being a goon.

[Mental Trousers]

3 of the latest version of the current model when there's hundreds if not thousands approaching 40 years old. Nothing that old can hit a target moving at approx 7kps, let alone with a kinetic (ie non-explosive) warhead. The most likely reason to use an SM3 is to prove that it can hit something that's moving faster than a IRBM class ballistic missile, ie ICBM class (approx 6-7kps at reentry).

As for older satellites, if they're still up there then no one else can use that orbit.


Most missile have a shelf life, maybe he is getting rid of old stock........

[McJim]

Conspiracy theory: G Dubya put a target in orbit so the Americans can wave their arse at the Chinese and Russians and say watch this you fuckers as they shoot it down and prove American superiority.

Or maybe that satellite really is broken and dangerous.

They've already shot it out of the sky but they'll keep feeding us the line "we might miss" so they can recieve their accolades when they show us the 'Live' footage :rofl:

[pete376403]

Ahhh, Hydrazine - top fuel drag racers "magic bullet"
http://www.competitionplus.com/2004_10_21/hydrazine.html.
There's a cool pic of an engine that's unbuttoned itself after a dose.

[Swampdonkey]

Question... where does the missile go if it misses....
if it hits ,it then breaks up into many pieces....look out southern ocean and any small group of islands in it!!
It could possibly land on New York ,blame Osama,bomb the snot of Iran for selling oil for Euros....call off US elections make bush king......yeahhhh that'll work.......What was in those cookies i had earlier

[P38]

I got $5 says they miss!!!:yeah:

[sAsLEX]

I got $5 says they miss!!!:yeah:

I raise you $5 and say they hit a working one!

[P38]

I raise you $5 and say they hit a working one!

Shit didn't think of that senario.

You win!

Bastards will probally take out a chinese one an start another bloody war.

[Swoop]

If they are intending to launch from a destroyer, the missile must have a ridiculous range.
The ASAT missile had to be lugged to [approx] 80,000ft by an F-15 before firing.
This, then left the pilot with a glider... since afterburner sucks the tank nearly dry.

[sAsLEX]

If they are intending to launch from a destroyer, the missile must have a ridiculous range.
The ASAT missile had to be lugged to [approx] 80,000ft by an F-15 before firing.
This, then left the pilot with a glider... since afterburner sucks the tank nearly dry.

Well their range is >500KM

And the fact that

commonly accepted definition for LEO is between 160 - 2000 km

Combined with the fact this was a spy sat so would want to be low, and its too low causing it to fall from the sky.........

[Steam]

If they are intending to launch from a destroyer, the missile must have a ridiculous range.
The ASAT missile had to be lugged to [approx] 80,000ft by an F-15 before firing.
This, then left the pilot with a glider... since afterburner sucks the tank nearly dry.

The SM-3 are dedicated anti-ballistic-missile missiles, so they have the legs for it. The destroyer will be pretty much right underneath it, so the only range will be basically straight up.
Also there's been a lot of work done on ABMs since the 80's when they developed those plane-launched ones.



Combined with the fact this was a spy sat so would want to be low, and its too low causing it to fall from the sky.........

It was still in a 240km orbit yesterday. Looks like it won't fall back too fast, so they have some time to refine the reprogramming.

[Swoop]

It appears as if they have succeeded.:first:

How could I have underestimated the USA? So silly of me to have done so.

Shooting at and destroying one of their own satellites. They are past masters at blue-on-blue "friendly fire" actions, so this is not really a challenge for them!

[skidMark]

there's more dangerous gasses in the WhiteHouse, methinks ........ oh, sorry, that's just 'hot air'

:shifty:

Thought they were miss lewinsky's farts?

[Deano]

Where's Waylander ?

[Livvy]

Where's Waylander ?
Mysteriously absent.

It's probably wise of him. :lol:

[P38]

It appears as if they have succeeded.:first:

How could I have underestimated the USA? So silly of me to have done so.

Shooting at and destroying one of their own satellites. They are past masters at blue-on-blue "friendly fire" actions, so this is not really a challenge for them!

Well I seen the video of the missile hitting the satelite, but then I also seen the video of Man walking on the Moon too.

How is it that the Americans can shoot down a speeding satelite in outter space from a rocking boat from thousands of miles way but they cant seem to find Osama Bin Laden?

Who knows whats real and whats not?

Good shot anyways.:niceone:

[doc]

Well I seen the video of the missile hitting the satelite, but then I also seen the video of Man walking on the Moon too.

How is it that the Americans can shoot down a speeding satelite in outter space from a rocking boat from thousands of miles way but they cant seem to find Osama Bin Laden?

Who knows whats real and whats not?

Good shot anyways.:niceone:

All the knockers won't give them credit when credits due. The thing didn't even have a explosive warhead on it . Personally I think the Godams are tops with technology. Just they always have problems using their people MOST of the time putting it into practice. They work better in smaller groups. Gotta admit we can critise but can't attempt half the things they fail at. My 2c worth.

[Steam]

Here's the launch, and below is the footage of the hit. Very very clever stuff, nobody will be able to match that for a decade at least, if they even try. As for the Chinese, forget it. 20 years.
http://space.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn13359/dn13359-1_250.jpg

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/euTQXH-ObGs&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/euTQXH-ObGs&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

Damn, that is incredibly cool.

[mstriumph]

.............Who knows whats real and whats not?

........


Toothfairy is real
KB is real

:shifty: ...... I am real :shifty: