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:

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'

[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!