GO NAVY!!!

[SF18C]

I really hope these 100lb heads can make this shot! I mean I am really really hoping they get it...stay tuned!

High-powered team planned satellite strategy

How the satellite shootdown would work
Key aspects of the plan for intercepting the broken spy satellite:

— A single missile, of a type known as the Standard Missile 3, would be launched from a Navy ship at sea. The missile was originally designed to intercept a ballistic missile in flight, not a spacecraft, so the missile and its associated software have been modified.
— Ideally, the missile will strike the satellite directly just before it re-enters Earth's atmosphere, breaking it into small pieces that will mostly fall through the atmosphere rather than become space debris.
— If the first shot misses, a second attempt may be made.
— A "window of opportunity" for hitting the satellite has been calculated to begin in three or four days. It could last as long as eight days. The Pentagon did not announce the exact date of an intercept attempt.
— The decision to proceed was made by President Bush.
— Diplomatic notice was sent to other countries.
— In 14 test flights, the Standard Missile 3 has achieved 12 intercepts, most recently in December.
— There are three Navy cruisers equipped with the missile.

[x-factor]

Talk about trying to make lemons into lemonade.

[SF18C]

Two things


Experts said that with three-quarters of Earth covered in water, there's a 25 percent chance the satellite's remnants will hit land -- and a 1 percent chance they will hit a populated area. That 1% is causing lots of worry!

Anyone wonder why the Air Force didin't jump at this mission?

[swpa19]

And the way my luck runs that one percent will encompass my little part of the world. If it were raining hundred dollar bills, the ones I pick up would be counterfeit. It will be interesting to watch though. And if successfull will send a message to the rest of the world.

[jbour13]

Think in terms of what this platform provides to the end users. It's much better to blast it in to bits and let those little bits re-enter and fully burn up than on big one coming in partially burned.

Regardless of who does it, get it done and do it right. Let the fireworks begin !!!!

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by SF18C

Two things

Experts said that with three-quarters of Earth covered in water, there's a 25 percent chance the satellite's remnants will hit land -- and a 1 percent chance they will hit a populated area. That 1% is causing lots of worry!

Anyone wonder why the Air Force didin't jump at this mission?

Maybe because we are not supposed to have this capability.

TR

[x-factor]

The Air Force has had an anti-satellite capability since the 1980s. It was built in response to a Soviet anti-satellite capability and was publicly acknowledged for deterrence purposes. I don't know if its still operational.

http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/8028

[Razor]

The Air Force, much to their dismay, are fighting a close battle for proponency on this. Space control is anyone's game right now.

[x-factor]

Thats true. One such cosmetic symptom of that disease was the Air Force renaming everything as "aerospace" this and that (for example "Aerospace Expeditionary Wing") rather than just "air".

The Air Force is terrified that eventually space forces will eventually be spun off into a separate service in the same way that the Army Air Corps became the Air Force.

[Sdiver]

Looks as if it's, Game On for Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States will take its first shot at an out-of-control spy satellite on Thursday, trying to knock it into the sea before it crashes to Earth, possibly causing damage, CNN news reported Monday.

A second attempt would be possible if the first misses, the channel said, citing military sources. Pentagon officials were not immediately available for confirmation.

Without intervention, the crippled satellite is due to break into the Earth's atmosphere on March 6 and crash down at an unpredictable spot, risking rupturing its tanks of toxic fuel, US authorities warned last week.

A US warship will fire a surface-to-air missile at the satellite at a specific point in its orbit that ensures any Earth-bound debris will splash into the ocean.

The shoot-down plan drew criticism on Sunday from Russia, whose defense ministry said in a statement it looked like a veiled weapons test and an "attempt to move the arms race into space."

Washington has denied seeking to cover up the satellite's technological secrets or to make a show of strength after China used a missile to shoot down an old weather satellite in January 2007.

[Pete S]

If the exercise goes well it will be effective way of flexing our muscles.

[afchic]

I just got off the MSNBC message board before coming on here and reading about the same subject. Two completely different thought processes going on. Over there it is a conspiracy on why we are doing it in the first place. The leading conspiracy theory right now is that we are doing it, with the intent of missing the satellite, and hitting Iran instead, thereby allowing the POTUS to bring us into another war before he leaves office. I kid you not.

No one over there can seem to wrap their heads around why the US Government is so worried about this spy satellite hitting the earth without fully burning up on impact. I don't know, could it be that maybe there is stuff on there that we don't want our enemies to get a hold of??? What a bunch of fricking geniuses!!!

[rubberneck]

What are you doing reading a message board at MSNBC? Considering the content that they are know for producing it should come as no surprise that the glass licking conspiracy theorists can be found on their message boards.

[afchic]

I go onto the MSNBC message board to get my daily laughs. It never ceases to amaze me how many people a)have so much extra time on their hands. Alot of these clowns are living on welfare, and screaming about how bad they have it, yet they are on a fricking message board instead of out working. b)how little these people actually experience the real world. Their version of the real world is what they can look up on youtube. c)how many people are living in fear, and trying to get everyone else to be afraid with them.

[lrd]

Hit it on the first shot.

Great job, USS Lake Erie!