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    U.S. destroys satellite

    http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

    WASHINGTON (AP) - A Navy missile soaring 130 miles above the Pacific smashed a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite Wednesday and probably destroyed a tank carrying 1,000 pounds of toxic fuel, officials said.

    Officials had expressed cautious optimism that the missile would hit the satellite, which was the size of a school bus. But they were less certain of hitting the smaller, more problematic fuel tank, whose contents posed what Bush administration officials deemed a potential health hazard to humans if it landed intact.

    In a statement announcing that the Navy missile struck the satellite, the Pentagon said, "Confirmation that the fuel tank has been fragmented should be available within 24 hours." It made no mention of early indications, but a defense official close to the situation said later that officials monitoring the collision saw what appeared to be an explosion, indicating that the fuel tank was hit.

    The USS Lake Erie, armed with an SM-3 missile designed to knock down incoming missiles—not orbiting satellites—launched the attack at 10:26 p.m. EST, according to the Pentagon. It hit the satellite about three minutes later as the spacecraft traveled in polar orbit at more than 17,000 mph.

    Because the satellite was orbiting at a relatively low altitude at the time it was hit by the missile, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere immediately, the Pentagon statement said.

    "Nearly all of the debris will burn up on re-entry within 24-48 hours and the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days," it said.

    The use of the Navy missile amounted to an unprecedented use of components of the Pentagon's missile defense system, designed to shoot down hostile ballistic missiles in flight—not kill satellites.

    The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Defense Secretary Robert Gates—not a military commander—was to make the final decision to pull the trigger.

    The government organized hazardous materials teams, under the code name "Burnt Frost," to be flown to the site of any dangerous or otherwise sensitive debris that might land in the United States or elsewhere.

    Also, six federal response groups that are positioned across the country by the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been alerted but not activated, FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said. "These are purely precautionary and preparedness actions only," he said.
    Good to know that we could take down a Ha'tak if need be.

    Ok, probably not, but I'm still amazed by the things that can be done with tech. Hopefully they have the foresight so that this doesn't need to be done in the future (granted, some may argue that they didn't need to do this either, and it was but a show of force).

    #2
    Even if they weren't succesful with the first shot I doubt they would have admitted it. Being that it would look bad for one of our main missile defense systems to show a failure. All we have is their word that they were succesful as it is.
    sigpic

    Comment


      #3
      We can shoot a misslie into low orbit.

      That is what, about as big as a person?

      Lets shoot Manhatten up into orbit now!!!

      Go Green

      Comment


        #4
        Didn't china do that a few years ago?
        Best quotes ever:
        O’NEILL: I hope you like Guinness, Sir. I find it a refreshing substitute for food.
        Jack O'neill: I hope you diplomatically told him where to shove it.
        Teal'c:If you once again try to harm me or one of my companions, my patience with you will expire.
        Carter: You know, you blow up one sun and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water.
        Thor:I like the yellow ones
        O´Neill:Hey, if you had been listening, you´d know that Nintendos pass through everything.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by umopapisdn View Post
          Didn't china do that a few years ago?

          Yep, they shot down a weather satellite last year (which the U.S., Canada and Australia protested, and Japan and GB weren't too pleased about and some people think is the main reason we took this action).

          Comment


            #6
            So it's not really a new thing, I would agree in thinking that this act was somewhat affected by the china missile. It's a bit like russia resuming those practise missions with their bombers, just a show of strength.
            Best quotes ever:
            O’NEILL: I hope you like Guinness, Sir. I find it a refreshing substitute for food.
            Jack O'neill: I hope you diplomatically told him where to shove it.
            Teal'c:If you once again try to harm me or one of my companions, my patience with you will expire.
            Carter: You know, you blow up one sun and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water.
            Thor:I like the yellow ones
            O´Neill:Hey, if you had been listening, you´d know that Nintendos pass through everything.

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by umopapisdn View Post
              So it's not really a new thing,

              Yeah, probably not thread worthy, but it's been a slow morning and I am in a space mood after the eclipse last night.

              Comment


                #8
                Lol, fair enough. I like anytthing to do with space - real life or sci fi.
                Best quotes ever:
                O’NEILL: I hope you like Guinness, Sir. I find it a refreshing substitute for food.
                Jack O'neill: I hope you diplomatically told him where to shove it.
                Teal'c:If you once again try to harm me or one of my companions, my patience with you will expire.
                Carter: You know, you blow up one sun and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water.
                Thor:I like the yellow ones
                O´Neill:Hey, if you had been listening, you´d know that Nintendos pass through everything.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Here's the Pentagon wrap-up with some video footage.

                  http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tec...n.pentagon.cnn

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I saw the reports of it last night. Pretty cool, it's like something out of Stargate!

                    Vala,

                    Comment


                      #11
                      psh, it wasn't a satellite but a hatak coming to kill us all...
                      Well i was bored and decided to make a borg vs stargate sig, so enjoy...btw the explosions and ships look weird i know, its hard to make them blend
                      Anime signature in spoiler tag
                      Spoiler:
                      Here is an anime sig, i was bored so i randomly picked a maid pic and photoshoped it

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by gange57 View Post
                        Here's the Pentagon wrap-up with some video footage.

                        http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tec...n.pentagon.cnn
                        Good link. Looks like they did a similar thing back in 1989. At least this one sounds like it was more controlled and effective than previous efforst. We will have to wait and see if everything breaks up like it's suppose to though.

                        Reading that it is actually a pretty new satellite makes me think it probably was really a necessary step more than a show of force, although it's not like there can only be one reason to do something.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I watched the footage today. Pretty impressive. They nailed it! We are safe from the impending doom of falling satellites once again!

                          Makes me a little more confindent in our defense capability too, which I'm sure had no bearing on the decision to try to shoot it down.
                          sigpic

                          Comment


                            #14
                            It's not the first time when a country shoot a down a sattelite.
                            For example:
                            China
                            http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/0...ile/index.html

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Randy_Watson View Post
                              Yep, they shot down a weather satellite last year (which the U.S., Canada and Australia protested, and Japan and GB weren't too pleased about and some people think is the main reason we took this action).
                              China shot down a weather satellite in a higher more stable (And therefore easier to predict) Orbit.


                              We shot down a moving target. There's buzz saying this was a show of force on our part, Kind of a "We can shot down anything coming our way."

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