Posted on 02/08/2008 3:25:12 PM PST by maquiladora
February 8, 2008 -- US 193, the U.S. spy satellite that has failed while in orbit, will crash into the Earth during the first week of March, U.S. officials say.
The only problem is, no one seems to have the faintest idea as to where debris from the 5,000-pound spacecraft will land.
The military satellite was launched in December 2006. It carries a sophisticated and secret imaging sensor. It experienced a power and computer failure almost immediately after entering space.
The satellite has been wandering in orbit in a random path ever since. Without power, the satellite was doomed to eventually crash into the Earth's atmosphere and break up.
The U.S. is worried that pieces of the satellite may land in another country, allowing that nation's leaders to examine secret American technology.
U.S. trackers will have a better idea where US 193 is going when it begins its descent into the atmosphere, 59 miles above the planet. It will burn up from the immense friction with atmospheric molecules and fall within 30 minutes. People on the ground near the entry point may be able to see flares from the craft.
The debris could be scattered over several hundred miles. Some of it could be hazardous. The satellite contains the toxic rocket fuel hydrazine.
Short-term exposure to hydrazine could cause coughin, irritated throat and lungs, convulsions, tremors and seizures. Long-term exposure could damage the liver, kidney and reproductive organs.
Bottom line: if the satellite happens to fall in your neighborhood, don't touch it!
Well, no ... it's been in orbit, and like most orbiting rocks it has a quite predictable trajectory.
Stupid reporter....
On Earth.
I'll be by to pick up my paycheck shortly.
Now just where did this so-called journalist get his Ed-u-kation?
Decaying orbits I understand but there is no such thing as a "Random Orbit" as this idiot journalist declares.
Anyone at the level of Chief-of-Staff or higher had better have this as a hot option so that our secrets remains exactly that.
Is that like, it could kill you or is he just writing with an accent?
Yeah, everyone knows if you want secret American technology, all you have to do is call the Clintons for it.
So, the shuttle is up, can’t it chase it and get it?
Well, no ... it's been in orbit, and like most orbiting rocks it has a quite predictable trajectory.
Stupid reporter....
Agreed. In addition, I doubt very much that the hydrazine will survive the fall. (Or the ozidizer either. Do they still use nitric acid? why didn't the writer make that a problem?)
Yup, after all the crook Sandy Berger proved that the Clintoons have an Express Take-Out Delivery Service for anyone who can meet their asking prices.
I hope it lands on my head so I have an excuse not to vote in Nov.
Here is how it is ignited (from Wikipedia)
In all hydrazine monopropellant engines, the hydrazine is passed by a catalyst such as iridium metal supported by high-surface-area alumina (aluminium oxide) or carbon nanofibers,[13] or more recently molybdenum nitride on alumina,[14] which causes it to decompose into ammonia, nitrogen gas, and hydrogen gas according to the following reactions:
3 N2H4 → 4 NH3 + N2
N2H4 → N2 + 2 H2
4 NH3 + N2H4 → 3 N2 + 8 H2
These reactions are extremely exothermic (the catalyst chamber can reach 800°C in a matter of milliseconds[13]), and they produce large volumes of hot gas from a small volume of liquid hydrazine,[14] making it an efficient thruster propellant.
It’s going to land in my backyard. I have to remember to keep my dogs in the house that day.
Shuttle = equatorial orbit.
If the could ‘catch it’ the delta V would, literally, be a killer.
Arrrgghhhhh!
If the shuttle could ‘catch’ the spysat the delta V .......
One of these days, I swear, I’ll start proofing my posts.....
Burt hasn’t come close to reaching orbit, and he probably never will. He goes straight up and then comes straight down. He needs to go straight up about twice as high as he has gone thus far, and then he needs to accelerate sideways 17,500 miles per hour to get to orbit.
Not that I’m disrespecting what he has accomplished, because he’s a cool guy and I like his style, but he’s nowhere near orbit, much less reentry.
LOL Don’t blame me, I got smacked in the noggin by a sattelite.
I’m callin it, and I got my glove ready...
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