<![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite! - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite! - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> Also, "the blogs" are wrong about the danger of classified info surviving the heat of reentry.

Oh, well if the military says there's no classified information involved, then it must be true.

daveNYC

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> I remember when the news broke that the satellite was deorbiting (hell, I remember when it failed after launch), and this whole thing strikes me as hilarious. I kind of can't believe we're doing it, but. The SM-3 interceptor has a good track record in tests. The planned intercept is just above Earth's atmosphere, so any debris will be sucked in and burn up quickly (a difference from China's ASAT test last year, which was up around 650 kms. The debris from that one will orbit for decades if not centuries). The political repercussions are tougher to evaluate - will the renewed knowledge that the U.S. has an ASAT capability (first tested in the 1980s) balance against the "we're doing this for safety" message? Or is all a veiled threat directed at the Russians and the Chinese?

Pouncer

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> @Counterglow: Wow talk about grasping at straws Counterglow.

Only satellites (US brand anyways) destined for deep space use RTGs for obvious reasons. Its much cheaper and more effective to use solar panels in Earth Orbit anyways so the prospect of radioactive materials on-board is low to nil. The Hydrazine on-board is used for orbital corrections which this satellite is obviously out of or it would not be in the position it is in currently.

The military has a spy satelite about to de-orbit. They want to justify their bloated budgets. Hell let them play target practice. It'll be much funnier if they shoot and miss.

Front_Towards_Enemy

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> @LOW_BRASS
Would the military be stupid enough to shoot a missile at something carrying radioactive fuel? May I direct your attention to Iraq? The Pentagon somehow managed to make wrong decisions time after time after time. A chimp throwing darts at a Yes/No sign would have done better.

Decisions such as the one to shoot down the satellite happen 'way up the chain of command, and the higher the rank, the more likely it is that the person filling it is a politician more than a soldier. And just to be clear, by "politician", I mean bum-kissing incompetent half-wit.

Counterglow

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> @mik3cap: Hydrazine is the chemical used for the attitude control thrusters on the satellite. Pretty much every satellite in Earth orbit uses a hydrazine ACS system. And hydrazine is a pretty nasty corrosive toxin, so I could see why they don't want any back in our atmosphere. There is a small possibility that the satellite used an RTG for power (see Cargocult's comment), but being in earth orbit with lots of available sunlight, it most likely just used solar panels.

Now, I'm not one to trust the military implicitly, but would they be stupid enough to shoot a missile at something carrying radioactive fuel?

low_brass

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> RTGs (radioisotope thermoelectric generators, basically big, hot lumps of plutonium with some thermocouple fins strapped on) are designed to survive re-entry and crash-landing. The radioactive material's in a ceramic form, encased in iridium and graphite, and has a heat-resistant shell around the outside. Re-entry is piss-easy.

But, I don't think they're designed to survive missile strikes.

CargoCult

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> Oh yeah, this oughta go well.

bjarmson

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> It would be cool to be able to witness, next week, some satelite fireworks in the same day that there will be a Lunar Eclipse.

Nabilac

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> "And then we're gonna go *ptew! ptew! ptew!* and shoot it out of the sky! And it's gonna go *Ka-BoooSH!*"

92BuickLeSabre

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> Great. Leave it to the fracking idiot military. The Chinese effectivly doubled the amount of dangerous space junk in orbit with their little stunt. Now another major orbit is going to be rendered unusable? Brilliant.

@MIK3CAP We use nuclear power supplies on a wide range of scientific probes, and we are not in violation of any treaties. The Russians accidentally crashed a mars probe on the Andes, it was carrying enough plutonium slugs to poison the whole continent. But nobody knows where it landed, and no one has their treaty underwear in a bunch over it.

Dug

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> "the blogs are wrong" huh? That is some lazy disinfo!

The military really needs to read the Execution Channel.

Supernintendo

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> I guarantee it's not hydrazine powering that satellite... the material's more likely to be nuclear, and that would break SO MANY treaties and be such a huge PR disaster for USSPACECOM it wouldn't even be funny.

mik3cap

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> "Also, "the blogs" are wrong about the danger of classified info surviving the heat of reentry"

Blogs wrong? Really????

Chris Wren

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> If the military comes up with a decision that everyone agrees on, then it is breaking news.

latoberg

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> @Git Em SteveDave: You're probably having a stroke. You might want to see someone about that.

Frozen-Tex

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> I love that this is "breaking news" on CNN... as if it's happening right now.

extracrispy

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> @ManchuCandidate: i guess what classified information is gathered in space stays in space trumps what happens in vegas stays in vegas.

tetracycloide

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> Frink: All right, just take your seat, just take your seat.
[pulls a sheet off a model of US America]
Now, working with former Bush I Administration officials and military men who were forced into early retirement for various reasons which we won't go into here, nn-hey, we have planned this defense for the nation: [flicks a switch] as the satellite hurtles towards the nation, our rocket will intercept it and blow it to smithereens.
[little models of the satellite and rocket demonstrate]
[the satellite explodes and catches Las Vegas on fire]
Moe Green: Oh, dear God, no!

ManchuCandidate

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> Target practice sounds like fun! You just know that someone, somewhere on that ship or within the chain of command will have pulled rank to be the one to launch the missile that takes it out.

Frozen-Tex

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> Do I see TacoBell doing another promotion with a target floating in the ocean and free tacos? I did enjoy 4 when the base was stolen during the world series.

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> Why does Under Siege 2:Dark Territory all of a sudden pop into my head?

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> Isn't this the beginning of a million science fiction movies, not the least of which was Cloverfield?

Macloserboy

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> OK, nothing to see here, folks. Nothing whatsoever to do with China shooting down a satellite last year and showing who can shoot down communications and GPS satellites, nope. Nothing at all.

Auld_Lang_Ziety

]]> <![CDATA[Don't Fear Our Falling Spy Satellite!]]> Ya, I'll be the dork screaming "Slusho!"

bonniegrrl

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