Who really thinks hydrazine is why gov wants to take spy sat out?

That seems to be one possible explanation. The satellite could possibly have some type of protective barrier much like nuclear warheads have (which protects them while traveling over mach 10 back into the earth's atmospherere). But that wouldnt' seem a very logical thing to do IMO from a design standpoint.

If the satellite is destroyed, key components would fail long before the smaller protective barrier. This means that what you would be left with (even in the best case) is a dead satellite with YOUR spy satellite technology falling GOD KNOWS WHERE on earth for our enemies to dismantle, reproduce, and sell to other countries, etc....

Not trying to argue with you but it just doesn't really make sense.

-ChriS

There is something on it that they dont want anyone to find, maybe alien technolgy? Or they would just let it fall I would think.

Well we can put that to rest as Atlantis has undocked from the ISS and is preparing to land.

Though I think it would have been cool if they had the ability to use Atlantis as an observation platform to watch the missile as it contacts or misses its target. Shows us how inflexible and weak our current manned space program is - as we can barely pick our noses up there without a year or more of planning and training.

Awe, how refreshing it will be to see privateers and even other countries in space as NASA while still capable of incredible feats, has become such a bloated bureaucracy it can barely function any longer.



[edit on 18-2-2008 by verylowfrequency]

I got a call from my mom last night and she was telling me "they shot down the satellite"! The radio had been saying they were waiting for the weather to clear but i guess it cleared enough.

-ChriS

Shot down indeed - now the fun begins. Retrieving such material could be quite lucrative.

The noon news today reported a meteor like show last night of showering parts of the satellite over BC Canada a couple hours North of my position. I was out in the mountains last night to watch the lunar eclipse away from light noise. Had I been better prepared I would have stayed up there to watch the light show of those remnants falling & possibly tracking their landing sites - if any made it to the ground.

I really hate using CNN but this is the first link i found with the most recent information.

www.cnn.com...

Former Secretary of Defense Philip Coyle seems to agree that this is obviously an attempt to keep this technology out of the hands of other countries.

It's also interesting how it comes shortly after China shot down a satellite of their own just last year. I don't know about a star wars space-race but you can't honestly look at both events and eliminate that possibility.

-ChriS

[edit on 21-2-2008 by BlasteR]

It was just a public weapons test. They felt it necessary to only partially lie to the public. I'm sure they've already done secret ones (anti-sat tests) , they just didn't release the video of those ones. It was also a PR release from our defense department. Most of their actions have multiple goals to accomplish. It's more effective that way.

If it were so sensitive, they could have just snatched it out of space with the shuttle, or a robot with thrusters. Or let it crash. But it is easier if you don't have to send out a squad to recover the pieces. No one knows even where any of the SAT landed do they?

I just hope they're not polluting space around the earth. It doesn't take a very bit chunk of something to come flying through your space suit at 17,000MPH+ to kill you. Even a drop of fuel can do it I believe. A drop of liquid traveling that fast has much more energy delivery than a high powered rifle bullet.

So if any in the military is reading this. How about using a robot SAT snatcher next time? That way we wont have all of these deadly chunks of stuff flying around in orbit. You just need a little SAT with claws and thrusters to grab the bad SAT and de-orbit it in a place where you DO want it to hit. You could launch it from high altitude plane.

reply to post by TruthCanHurt

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I agree with your first sentence.
As to why they didn't use the shuttle to recover it, I think the reason is the size. It was the size of a large bus. That would have been beyond the capability of the shuttle to retrieve. In addition, if it was carrying hazardous material, they wouldn't want to expose astronauts to that. Thus, this was the perfect opportunity!
I think if you look at the coverage on TV now, and the reactions from Russian and China, your first sentence is where it is at, and it was a huge success. The government and the military are popping the champagne corks now, and the Russians, who have been sticking it to us, with Putins' threatening military actions, are stewing in their borsch.

reply to post by trstno1

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I think China know's there is something bigger going on in the states......what ever that "something bigger" may be.....china know's its going on, and they dont like it...so the U.S flex's the "main stream" tech. muscle in an attempt to scare china back into hiding.

Do you remember the roe that occured after discs, or a laptop went missing at (embarassed I cannot remember name of highly classified Cali facility) that days later were found behind a copy machine?
They tried like heck to string up a chinese scientist for it but he was adjucated.
And the 737 that went 'missing' over an ownership dispute in Africa a year before 911 that to my knowledge was never resolved.
I believe China got there mitts on some very sensitive tech, but perhaps not all of it. Hopefully it was compartmentalised enough.
Why blow it just east of Hawaii? So IF anything did come down it would be in our country. They had squads set up for retrieval.

reply to post by jpm1602

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Personally, I never heard of hydrazine until this event. I am sure most of America is the same. Fear of the unknown? After personal research, I find that it is indeed 'deadly', and could pose a real threat to those in the vicinity of a crash site containing the substance. The perfect cover perhaps? Or maybe they are just trying to prevent what happened in Peru, as discussed here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

As many have said throughout this thread, it seems that China was the main recipient of the message the United States 'sent' with this 'demonstration'.

Therefore, in addition to finding it odd to spend $60 Million to shoot down the failed spy sat, I find the timing of the event to be even stranger.

www.defenselink.mil...


sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov...


The missile struck the 'school bus' sized target at the exact midpoint of the lunar eclipse!

So why?

eclipse99.nasa.gov...


www.space.com...


It is not an accident that the 'old' technology of the United States put on an amazing technical feat at the same time as the 'blood red' lunar eclipse. There seems to be a mix of the esoteric mixed in with the exo-politics here, at least to me.

The missile strike/lunar eclipse also happen to fall on the night of the Lantern Festival, the 15th day after the beginning of the Chinese New Year. The holiday is a celebration of "good fortune, family reunion, abundant harvest, prosperity and love."

I am not sure what all this means. I don't know enough about Chinese Omens. I do think that message sent works on many levels, some of which go over most people's heads. (pun intended)

Perhaps it is just a happy coincidence that the eclipse that saved Columbus happens to have had its 'anniversary' at the same instant that the US may or may not have been taunting the Chinese, on the night of one of their 'happiest' celebrations. That the actions of the US had less to do with precision, and careful planning of the event, and more to do with careless ethnocentricity and happenstance. Sure is lucky we hit that Satellite then... right?

Then again, maybe the US did what they did, when they did, to 'honor' the Chinese, and scare aware the Dragons for them while they were trying to have a good time.
DocMoreau

PS...

www.khandro.net...

Columbus the 'prophet'
image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Eclipse_Chistophe_Colomb.jpg/675px-Eclipse_Chistophe_Colomb.jpg





[edit on 26/2/2008 by DocMoreau]

Interesting theory Doc. A super bowl ad military style very possible. One thing for sure. They blew that mother to smithereens and nobodies selling pcb's or optics on ebay.