US satellite unlikely to pose danger to humans

US satellite unlikely to pose danger to humans

www.reuters.com

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - A disabled U.S. spy satellite is likely to break into small pieces when it falls to Earth within weeks, posing little danger to humans, U.S. government officials and space experts said on Monday.

Most, if any, debris that survives the intense heat of re-entry would likely fall into the oceans, which cover more than 70 percent of the Earth, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

But he said the U.S. government was monitoring the satellite's descent from orbit and examining different options to "mitigate any damage."

The U.S. military could potentially use a missile to destroy the minivan-sized satellite in space, but one senior U.S. defense official said that was unlikely for several reasons, including concern about creating space debris as China did when it shot down one of its satellites last year.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Put this in its own topic as it deals with the danger .

Dis-info ? Thats for you to decide. Seems like a legit article
Sorry if this got covered .
www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 28-1-2008 by oLDWoRLDDiSoRDeR]

there's several method of reentry and i guess the "controlled re-entry" will be more expensive because it require a very strong propulsion system. but safer to land it deliberately to uninhabited areas like my in-laws backyard in pomona, california . a disabled spy satellite (spying a dead art?), would be worthless and will be allowed reentry through the cheaper orbital decay technique. basically letting it fall down from heavens. and a van sized flaming space debris diving to earth would be a cool UFO topic here for a week, but also scary.
question sir. why can't it stay as a space debris? i'm sure there's a lot of dead satellites, spent rocket stages, kelly clarkson CD's, etc, at earth's orbit right now.