Cost of shooting down a spy satellite: $60m. Look on Alien's face when the missile hits: priceless.
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted February 16th 2008 9:31AM
posted February 16th 2008 9:31AM
[Thanks, Laura]
Update: Apparently Russia is calling the whole operation a cover for the US government to test out a new anti-sat tactical missile system. Ok, we wouldn't rule that option out, but it's not like the concept of shooting down satellites is so revolutionary, right? We mean, haven't governments been capable of blowing up satellites for decades, now? Thanks, Mukul.
Why are you guys worried about debris? im so confused...lets say you took an oil tanker, blew it up in orbit, the chances of you being affected physically are 1 in about a billion.
however, if your in ORBIT, and pieces of tanker flying at around 20000 miles per hour are scattered around the globe, your so dead.
china blew up a tiny satellite, just one satelite, and it doubled the debris in orbit, and doubled the chance of things in that orbit getting hit with debris. you know what would suck? having your million\billion dollar satelite getting destroyed by a chip of paint. :( . if you have a war, imagine how great a place orbit would be to live...
W.O.P.R.
^_^
All a game.
this also sounds fishy...i dont remember a case where 2 football fields made a difference to the US gov...contamination......blah......sounds like they dont want a certain something something being scene by anyone else... perfect way to hide a secret....blow it up.
It's a spy satellite folks. It cost billions to design and build. The technology in its design could, with difficulty be reverse-engineered even if relatively small fragments survived reentry and was not recovered by the US. That's why the satellite has to go. The thousand pounds of hydrazine it contains would burn up in milliseconds during reentry and is not the issue.
Anyone with a decent telescope should be able to track this satellite and watch the event as it unfolds.
The plot thickens.
It's a great idea, for as we all know, a blast from a 10 gage is much more acceptable than a 45 slug.
SHEAT SHEET FIRE LE MISSLES
I am Le Tired
Well have a nap then FIRE LE MISSLES!
Actually, I don't get why everyone's panties are in a knot... They're blowing it into small bits to either protect secrets that could be hazardous to lend to china, or they're protecting human life, or both. Why are you crying again?
Oh and either way, we get a 60million Dollar firework display :P
nice can of worms Joshua :]
Best. Title. Evar.
I am in the military and I can tell you 1. Its not going to cost that much at all. 2. It more then likely will not miss. It is a very important exercise and a lot of knowledge will be gained from it both for defense and offense for protecting our own satellites too. Plus you would not want that fuel in your back yard its nasty.
Wow this is string of comments has degenerated so quickly into an argument about America. You guys are all tards with vendettas.
I love the new picture, again, let's get an update with lens flares please!
better yet bling out the dollar signs AND add lens flares.
plus you gotta write on the missles, "FROM THE USA, WITH LOVE"
http://img168.imageshack.us/my.php?image=standardmissile3hr0.jpg
Oh sure, the US is such an arrogant rogue state - having inconvenienced just about every country in the world by pro-actively warning of the danger this satellite represents if it were to crash unmolested. Don't any of you know what hydrazine even is?
Nope, the US gets no gratitude whatsoever for the meticulous attention it is paying to the careful destruction of this satellite, and the affect its demise will have on the planet below. Hitting it just right ensures most if not all of the debris will burn up in the atmosphere. It's not a perfect solution, but it's better than doing nothing. Maybe the anti-American crowd at Engadget should consider themselves lucky the US isn't more lke China ...
... since China recently and needlessly test shot one of their errant satellites without regard to space debris or a decaying orbit. But we don't talk about things like that or how China has absolutely no concern whatsoever for the environment or international empathy (Darfur anyone?) No, they are content to win the annual Al Gore award for Most Polluting country and the US gets nothing but grief.
Sometimes I wonder what planet folks come from.
No go ahead and rag on the US and whine some more about how careless and irresponsible it is while your own country enjoys millions or billions of dollars in trade, huminitarian and/or economic aid.
Wow for the same price as loosing someones laptop computer you can launch 3 missiles at satellites into space?!?!
My brother's a crewman on the USS Erie. For reals.
They won't miss.
Eh, fuck russia.
Why can't the space shuttle retreive this satellite? I worked on the project for the retreival of the SolarMax Satellite which involved capture, repair and relaunch. Wouldn't it make sense to salvage the satellite rather than destroy it?
If you think we'll miss, just watch this www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM6Qu1wCky0
This satellite is a ballistic missile, we've been there, done that many times. This time we get to do it without the expense of having to shoot a target up first.
i wonder why they try to "shoot" it down. Could 60 Mio. dont buy you a guided killer sattelite that would enter orbit and then sneek on from behind?
why does it even matter, so what if were shooting it as practice, i live in arkansas i'm not trippin about us getting bombed