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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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 Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:12 pm Post subject: Spy satellite set to plunge to Earth |
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The 10-ton satellite�s controllers admit that they do not know where it might come down and they have no way of controlling the return of a vehicle which may contain hazardous materials.
Last year 270 passengers on board an airliner above the Pacific had a lucky escape when the wreckage of a blazing Russian satellite narrowly missed their aircraft.
Pilots of the Latin American Airbus A340 saw the fiery debris streaking through the darkness directly ahead of them. The wreckage caused a sonic boom, which temporarily drowned out the noise of the jet�s four engines.
The near-disaster happened about four hours southwest of Auckland, New Zealand, and air traffic controllers quickly realised that the flaming wreckage was what remained of a communications satellite that had not been due to enter the Earth�s atmosphere for a further 12 hours. |
It's the size of a bus.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3258166.ece |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Wouldn't the trip through the atmosphere destroy it? |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 2:38 am Post subject: |
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In the related article I read, a U.S. defense analyst was saying that there was a danger of military-tech secret information possibly falling into the wrong hands depending on where the thing came down.
I was thinking "How much of it is going to be left after it's trip through the atmosphere and the crash landing?" Seems like a remote danger to me, but I don't claim to have any special knowledge about this stuff. |
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cheeseface
Joined: 13 Jan 2008
Location: Ssyangnyeon Shi
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:01 am Post subject: |
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The US could ask the Chinese to blow it up for them  |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:50 am Post subject: |
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| thepeel wrote: |
| Wouldn't the trip through the atmosphere destroy it? |
Well, I remember Skylab hitting earth in the late 70s some time. As I recall, it fell into the Pacific Ocean largely intact. |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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| I'd certainly expect it to land in several pieces and far apart, but not totally funked. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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| The Chinese shot down a satellite recently. Maybe the Americans can do the same? |
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