United States testing out SDI tonight

Dailytech

DailyTech has provided extensive coverage of the developing story concerning the dead satellite US 193. This spy satellite, loaded with toxic fuel and top U.S. surveillance technology threatens both as a safety concern and as a security concern, lest its fuel be released over a populated area, or its remains fall into the hands of China or other non-ally nations. The U.S. Navy took the double threat from the satellite very seriously and plans to launch a missile strike to try to blow it out of orbit.


The Navy hopes to hit the satellite hard, with no explosive charge, fracturing it as it enters low orbit. By hitting it at a lower altitude, they hope the debris including the Hydrazine, will burn up harmlessly. This way they can avoid populating the Earth's orbit with more space junk, a threat to both space shuttles and other satellites.

Seeking a contact kill can mean only 1 thing. Hitting an RV so hard you knock its reentry attitude out of whack exposing sensitive surfaces to the atmosphere, damage the heat shield or simply banjax the electronics.

As I understand it, the electronics are already worthless, and there is no heat shield since it was never intended to return safely to earth. I've heard estimates that even if it were not struck, roughly half of the mass would burn up on reentry, but probably not the hydrazine. The goal of hitting it is to destroy the hydrazine tank or expose it enough that it will burn on reentry, thereby eliminating the environmental hazard.

10:30pm EST? i'll already be out there watching the moon. maybe i'll see a shooting star too. =)

Heard in the news that it may delay the destruction of the satellite because of bad weather. A good way to hit your enemy, during bad weathers.

^^ i must laugh

to President North Korea ,

can you please only shoot your nukes at us in clear weather on a nice sunny day with no wind - or our navy intercepters might not blow them up

signed

secretary of defence USA

I don't think you should take the weather delay as a sign of weakness. This is an entirely different situation than if someone were actually shooting ballistic missiles. In this case the window of opportunity is relatively large (about a week and a half) and the number of shots is very limited (I think I've heard two or three missiles have been modified for this mission). It only makes sense that they would give themselves the very best opportunity to succeed by limiting any impact that bad weather might have.

Everyone knows why we are doing this.

We need to have good weather so that we can take clear pictures of the impact.

We will then take that pic and put it in this years holiday greetings card. Just wait, you will see.

I've just e-mailed and called all my friends here in Britain.

We have decided to stay in doors and hide under the bed.

Lol

We understand you americans like your friendly fire!

Saying things like 'SDI is being tested tonight' is a headline grabber, but the reality is my friend, not many people know the truth of what has happened.
I really don't buy the media line ... they tested something alright
when they did the deed last night.
As for SDI, mmmm thats a bit 1980's Ronnie Reagan for me ... I suggest things have moved on in technology.