US to shoot down failed satellite at 10:30pm ET tonight
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Feb 20th 2008 8:11AM
posted Feb 20th 2008 8:11AM
Update: The deed is now done.
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That's really awesome with the lunar eclipse happening tonight between 10:00 and 10:50
Exactly. I was already going to be out tonight watching for the blood moon. :)
Ok.. but... um, what happens to the missile... if they miss?!? O.o Are we going to have to shoot down the missile with an anti-missile, missile? Or worse... we end up hitting someone else's satellite altogether by mistake:
"This just in, the U.S. Navy wishes to apologize for wiping out Dish Network satellite television for the Hawaiian Islands and all of the U.S. west cost. Admiral Alistair M. Shortsighted had this to say about the incident... "Sorry, my bad." Now, back to you Jim."
If the missile is fast enough to intersect an orbiting satellite (ludicrous speed), it'll probably be fast enough to escape earth's pull and end up hitting a much farther target. For example, the USS Enterprise.
P.S. It took me 5 minutes to wiki an fictional spaceship. Death Star just doesn't have the same effect. Most people won't need to google "Death Star."
Yeah, I totally had to Google the USS Enterprise.
Er, when were you born again? :/
can it explode in space?
I thought thing didn't explode in space, and rather imploded due to the pressure. However, if the thing is closer to the atmosphere, then maybe. Any astronomers in the house who'd like to share their knowledge?
What pressure?
well forget a fireball.. there's no oxygen, forget an 'explosion' sound, there's no air..
but yeah it's a pressurized container, im sure it can explode.
The hydrazine is part of a hypergolic rocket fuel system (one that uses two usually nasty chemicals that ignite on contact with each other). If they bust open that tank, and the oxidizer, they will definitely explode on contact.
That's assuming there is oxidizer on board, from the description it is possible the oxidizer was used up during the malfunction the satellite suffered at launch.
Implode??? Pressure????
Yes, the hydrazine fuel is flammable in space. All space bound rocket fuels are highly oxygenated because of the lack of O2 in space. Without oxygen there can be no explosion.
Also, things do not necessarily implode in space. That term is relative to the pressure (or lack there of) that you're dealing with. An implosion simply means that there is lesser pressure inside the structure when it fails, than that which is around it. Therefore, the object caves and succumbs to the greater pressure outside of it.
I.E. If you were to take a tank and seal it at sea level and take it to the bottom of the ocean, the tank would likely implode because the pressure of the water is greater than that which is at sea level (and in the tank). If, however, you take that same tank and bring it up to 60,000ft or even into space, the tank would explode because of the greater pressure at sea level (and in the tank).
Hey
I`m in Western Japan
thats in 15 minutes time!
Who`s time is this 10.30pm? My time?,your time?their time?Our time?
Didn`t swatch try to make a watch with internet time?
Why not put that on the top of your page so we can use it as a guide?
Thanks for your time, Time to go
The stories title says ET, meaning Eastern Time (US & Canada) or GMT-05:00
I am Eastern Time. So over what part of the globe exactly is this thing going to be blowing up over and is there anyplace people can check online to get up to date info on the launch? I'd kinda like to see if I can check to watch for the explosion...
I guess the Alien moved it around like a kite dodging the missile.
The timing of shooting down the satellite during the eclipse is just to scared the crap out of the Chinese
It should take them ONE shot to take this thing out..not a second..third..fourth etc...if we can shoot downa freakin SAT than how can we shoot down missiles????
I assume you mean if we CAN'T shoot down a satellite. And the difference is, the satellite is way, WAY the fuck up there, moving at orbital velocity.
We can't shoot down missiles. The missile defense shield has an extremely low success rate, regardless of what the military says, so I would actually not be surprised if this fails.
To Rob: there is no pressure in the space. what did you get in ur science class.
10 million for a missile? wow, american are so rich. and why do they call it miss so?
ps: why dont they use the laser weapon instead?
pps: did the development forget to desice a self destroy machenism?
I think the alien thats doing this disabled the self destruct mechanism :P
jd:
Instead of being an ass, why don't you share some knowledge. Since you're master of all astronomy and any specialties in Space Science, what would happen when this missile hits the satellite? Would it explode or implode? Everyone is claiming that it will explode. What say you?
JD even if it had a self destruct mechanize, I think the whole point of them shooting it down is because they do not have contact with it. Or else they would have just guided it back nice and neat.
Hope this gonna work. Hydrazine is not going to explode for the shock only; it needs an oxidizer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UDMH
I suspect this attempt is to ensure that the US *can* shoot down a satellite and to make the rest of the world aware of our military abilities. /sigh
China has done so already and I'm assuming next, Russia will be next to make some excuse to shoot down a satellite.
To bad the world has been aware of our abilities to destroy satellites for two decades (1985). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solwind_P78-1
mechanism*
ok, je pense qu'on se fait niaiser.. j'ai recu un mail de marc à 1h45 ce matin
===============
Oublie ça pour ce soir (mardi), j'ai travaillé toute la soirée (armée), et j'ai pu avoir la chance de me planter dans mon examen de Mat265 aujourd'hui.
Je vais travailler là-dessus demain soir, et matin, si possible.
Marc
Now, that's why i want an EDIT BUTTON!!!
Engadget? Do you hear me? delete this comment thx
Most informative reply! I didn't understand any of it, but it made me giggle a little bit anyway. Having to deal with multible languages can be jolly confusing sometimes :)
French...
...How does that even happen?
Did you just type French that is completely unrelated to your comment below by accident?
Maybe some copypasta?
Jesse, exactly
The fact is : It's a dummy satellite!!!! They only want to test their uberleet missile. And to be sure the world know their superiority, they call it a US Spy Satellite..! Heyodeleeee!
Ahhh yes, the left leaning Quebecois mentality hard at work again. Eh oui, GW te vise personellement! NO! It's a spy satellite that has decided to go TU and needs to be brought down.
Sheesh....
You got low-ranked but I agree with you. That supposed $1B satellite is probably some cheap dummy, target satellite that they can use to test their missile system without fear of reprisals. Not like they're likely to hit it anyhow. If they miss, then it's tough luck for whoever gets creamed by the satellite.
Mike.. no seriously, it's the internet.. don't get everything as if it was true. I was trolling here. Mais tu es tombé dans la facilité sachant que j'étais un québécois.. sad, yes sad. But as i said, it's the internet.. so you can say what you want :)
I wonder if it's really being shot down because of the risk of debris or because the Pentagon doesn't want anyone getting their hands on top secret military hardware (whatever was left of it if it were to crash into earth).
Both probably. Although the former less likely (Chances of you being hit... Pretty low)
A little of Column A, a little of Column B.
Who says that it can't be both?
Probably both.
US to shoot down failed satellite - today
US failed to shoot down satellite - tomorrow
LOL. Exactly what I thought the topic said when I first glanced.
More like "US Fails to hit Sat, and crashes into Chinese Sat in a freak accident"
"school-bus sized"
i think its funny that they are shooting it down at the same time as the lunar eclipse tonight.
also i can think of alot better things to spend 10mil on.
U.S. accidentally shoots down china satellite,starts ww3
U.S. accidentally missed satellite, hits China: WW3 starts.
U.S. shoots at satellite, hits intelligent alien ship, aliens invade and the Earth is decimated.
or last but not least.
U.S. blows up satellite, small cultures the world over commit mass suicide. ( fear of end of world)
I'll watch this here at 7 pm my time. yeah gmt-3.5 hours. you figure it out where I am. It'll be dark and its a beautiful clear sunny day out. I will hook my vid cam to my high powered binoculars and see if I can get a video of the missiles impact. If I manage to get it. it will be on the etube later.
U.S. hits our robot overloards, transformers invade the earth
so, if this thing is not going to explode then, what should i look for?? and by the way the 10 million is what the alien was asking for. so he could take the satellite home and fix it.
And yet another great amine's predictions have come to fruition. This is exactly why we need the Space Debris Section as depicted in Plantes. I wonder if Technora Corporation is hiring.
This is obviously a test for an anti-satellite missile. They're answering China's recent anti-satellite missile test with one of their own. Satellites of all shapes and sizes and with all manner of toxic ingredients are routinely allowed to fall into the atmosphere without the need to be blown up by a missile.
Perhaps but are they 'school-bus sized' like this one?
It's funny to watch the conspiracy theorists go ape sh!t when events like this occur.
sigh.....
History lesson:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon
Um, yes Mike, actually bus-sized and even bigger are routinely de-orbited. For an example, see the Mir space station, which was de-orbited in 2001. Hydrazine fuel is commonly used in satellites and space stations; given the relatively high rate of failure for putting a satellite into orbit, I don't think they would use a fuel they thought had the potential to kill a lot of people if they lost control of the satellite.
I'm actually not at all inclined to conspiracy theory. I don't think the US launched the satellite just to shoot it down. But I think they saw an opportunity to get some ROI and demonstrate their anti-missile capacity, to the Chinese in particular. I work in the military. These little "communications" between powers happen all the time, and most of them you don't even hear about.
Ok, I really just like the graphic for this story. Makes me laugh everytime i see it.
Yes, things car burn and explode in space, as long as an oxidizer is provided. This is what make solid rocket fuel special.
2008-02-21T03:30Z to be precise :p
I say they hit it on the first try.
the satellite may burn up in the atmosphere but what about the alien spawn inside?
from what I know about the atmosphere, this satellite is not going to get through it without disintegrating at 40,000C first. So really is this about military supremacy or the thing landing in your back yard? It just shows how gullible governments think their citizens are.
Tell that to Australians who were rained on by Skylab and came away with pieces of it as souvenirs.
Please post if you read anywhere that this will be televised.
Revolutions are never televised.
You know they gonna miss, right? And Flanders bomb shelter can't hold all of you which means you'll end up outside holding hands singing que sera sera...
Actually CNN says that "bad weather at sea appears likely to put off, until at least Thursday, an attempt to shoot down a faulty U.S. spy satellite." So we call all put our telescopes back under the bed for another day.
CNN's reporting is about as accurate as your local weather man.
For uo-to-date visibility predictions (not weather, but where the satellite happens to be in real time):
http://www.heavens-above.com/usa193.aspx
But I have to assume one reason they're doing this during the eclipse is that it makes things as dark as they can be -- not only is the event happening in Earth's shadow but there's no moonlight reflecting back at us. I think the visuals from down here are going to be pretty anticlimactic.
(P.S.: Someone made the alien joke, and then someone made it again, and again. You can stop now. Sigh.)
EA games, how about updating your C&C due to the recent development in space war technologies.
"Anti-Satellite missile is ready, waiting for your command commander" /sarcastic
i wonder why dont they outsource it and let the chinese to do it for 100k.
can someone post the vid please?
Am I the only one disappointed to realize that the "ET" in the title meant Eastern Time, not Extra Terrestrial? :(
The main issue with this satellite which is different than most others is this one failed right after launch, and thus has a full load of fuel.
The computer locked up or some similar problem and no one has gone up to press CTRL-ALT-DELETE.
There is 1 ton of hydrazine frozen solid in a titanium tank.
Titanium tanks make it back whole all the time.
http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/reentry/recovered.html
But this one also has 1 ton of cold stuff in it to help cool it during reentry. This tank is located at the center of the satellite, so it is relatively well protected. When it does hit the ground, its gonna crack open and stink up the place.
So it is probably a good idea to blow it away. Add to this the super secret stuff thats on there, you can understand why they want to break it up. They don't need or want an explosion, they just want to disrupt the tank/satellite to make it burn up during reentry rather than come down whole.
So in essence, what you're saying is that the military wishes to blow the satellite's load?
Leave it up to a perve to ruin a good technical comment. Sorry.
Not just that... The satellite will blow its load, and it will spray down upon the people of the earth a sparkling shower of its junk.
Just don't look up. You don't want to get any in your eyes, and if it gets in your mouth I do not recommend swallowing. Spit it out!
This is all wrong... can't we just get Bill O'Reilly to misinform the satellite out of it's current trajectory?
Why no explosive? What if the missile has to play catch up beyond expectations? I'd load some C4 just to be safe... Its not like it costs a whole lot.
Has Taco Bell gotten involved yet?!
Sounds like an excuse to use some of the ordinance we've stocked up over the years, otherwise how can we justify our inflated defense budget?
From what I have read it sounds like they might have to delay because of weather
Heck yes, finally something exciting happening in EST!
A useful explanation from astronomy blogger Phil Plait:
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/02/19/blowing-up-a-spy-satellite/
Unfortunately, the medium he chose is a 9-minute YouTube video. Please don't kill the messenger (me). (And you can go to that page and read his summary without seeing anything more than the YouTube keyframe.)
"Unfortunately, the timing of the launch -- 5:30pm locally -- means that our naked eyes won't likely be treated to much of a show."
Where the heck is Engadget based? Hawaii?
And if/when that 22,000 MPH warhead misses it... what happens then? Wouldn't it come back down at about the same speed?
Dont shoot it down!!, this will be wasting a perfect opportunity!
Send an free vacation inivite to George Bush. Make sure the location is exactly where the thing is going to hit earth. This way we can keep the planet safe from 2-malfunctioning devices.
The rocket is actually powered by burning $100 bills to heat a steam boiler, and is loaded with silver dollars and gold to add mass for the impact. (Tthat gold leave that coated the Apollo lander just for pork barrel Hollywood show really went over well with the public! Lets use more gold pointlessly!)
I'm glad each and every one of us all had a chance to vote on the construction of this multimillion dollar spy satellite, the launch of this satelite, and the final decision to spend another $10 million to shoot it down. God, living in a democracy / republic is so great, I feel like I'm really participating in my government. Oh, wait...
I'll give $100 to anyone in America who steps forward and says they actually participated in voting on the construction of this total piece of pork barrel garbage. Some Senators in the California, Texas, and Florida space corridor just got a little fatter from this one sattelite, out of hundreds launched. I can't imagine any of them will step forward for a $100 bucks. But hey, you got to vote on this, right? Right? Right? Oh, maybe not. But you got to vote on other laws, right? Right? Right? Oh, wait, maybe not recently, but at one time you got to vote on some single law that you have to live under. right? Right? Right??????
So you're taxes are going where? And its voluntary? Right? Yeah, I didn't think so....
Why not use t3h giant frikken lazerz ?
Umm... The other countries of the world know about this, right?
I mean, we're not going to hear about Pakistan or North Korea getting upset because they thought we were launching an attack against them, and then retaliating with their own missiles, are we?
I mean, I like the west coast. I'd rather not see them blown up by the confused followers of Kim Jong Il.
They were complaining when China shot down a Satellite... And now they are doing it themselves... Talk about hypocrisy...
The difference is that China did it wrong. They destroyed their weather satellite at a height of 537 miles, leaving hundreds of larger chunks and thousands of tiny, untraceable pieces of debris in orbit (see article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/01/18/china.missile/index.html). That means that it's still in the exosphere and will stay in orbit for a very long time. This largely increases the danger of other satellites or space vehicles getting hit by bullet-like pieces of space debris, and significantly adds to the dangerous cloud of debris already in low earth orbit.
In contrast, we're going to hit our satellite at a height of 150 miles, which puts it in the lower half of the thermosphere (article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/01/18/china.missile/index.html) and therefore almost at reentry. The pieces won't stay in orbit long and therefore won't be a danger for decades to come.
exciting? l think not, yawn!
I will be watching "Ice Station Zebra" at 10:30pm tonight.
When China "shot down" their satellite, it was in a solid orbit, leaving a cloud of debris.
In this case, the satellite is on its way back into the atmosphere, so the debris should burn up as it re-enters.
It pays to do some research before you go off labeling things "hypocritical."
For those complaining about the price, you'd surely think the $10 million was worth it if you got a full tank of hydrazine in your backyard. That amount of money is a pittance to our military. To put it in perspective, the Air Force is paying out $140+ million per F-22 Raptor (180 or so jets in the budget, they really want more like 380), and this is for an air-superiority fighter that would really only be necessary against another superpower like Russia or China.
Just thinking how this must look to third world countries.
Them : So uh you hear Iran is trying to power their country using nuclear energy
Us: I swear... if they do that. God will smite you
Them : You are freaking crazy, i have 3 friends that were killed by you.
Us : Silence, look to the sky the night of February the 20th, we will blow the moon out of the skies with one of our magical rockets of death.
Them : Ok .. We love American idol, we love America and your politics you are but your still freaking weird.
Eat another big mac freaks.
Implode, Explode, Neither. Both.
The satelite will be torn into millions of shreads by the inertia of tons of metal travelling at 22000 miles per hour. Then microseconds later the remaining fuel and oxidizer on the missile will ignite as they mix and expand rapidly in the vacume of space and are ignited by the missile's exhaust plume as it travells through the explosive cloud.
Everyone would go "ooooooohhh Ahhhhhhhh!" if they were there to see it. And then they would all go "auuuuughghhhhhhh!" as they died of asphyxiation decompression and exposure but no one would hear them because sound doesn't travel in a vacume.
Captain Jean Luc Picard, USS Enterprise!
Sorry if the point has already been made. But I think it is pretty bad that a satellite got into orbit which had the potential to drop out of the sky and hurt a bunch of people because it is full of a toxic chemical. Pretty surprising to me that USA would admit to this level of incompetence without a subtext.
So, would anyone from the USA like to apologise for launching the killer satellite into space in the first place? Surely it would have been much more sensible to ask China to blow the toxic deathstorm out of the sky on your behalf - they have already proved they can do it?