US spy satellite falling to earth

On Jan 26, 9:31 pm, Brian Thorn wrote:
On Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:11:36 -0500, "Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)"

wrote:
My guess is most likely a KH-12 or similar craft. (I think the Lacrosse are
too high up to be a concern.)

It's almost certainly the NRO satellite launched in late 2006 that
promptly died. There are reports that its solar panels never unfurled.

The Delta II launch fits with the 20,000 lbs mass report, so it's much
smaller than a KH-12. Probably a prototype or pathfinder mission for
FIA.

Brian


Too heavy for Delta II

On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 06:36:29 -0800 (PST), wrote:


The Delta II launch fits with the 20,000 lbs mass report, so it's much
smaller than a KH-12. Probably a prototype or pathfinder mission for
FIA.

Too heavy for Delta II

True. More like 10,000 lbs. I suspect someone in the media got "10
tons" and "10,000 lbs" mixed up (not the first time.)

All indications are that this is NROL-21 (USA-193), launched December
14, 2006 on Delta 322.

10,000 lbs. still buys you a lot of satellite. Aqua is only 6-7,000
lbs. NROL-21 didn't go perfectly polar or sun-synchronous, either. It
went to a 58.5 deg. orbit (unusual for Vandenberg launches) meaning it
could be significantly heavier than Aqua.

Brian

Sylvia Else wrote:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...001028,00.html

"?We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible
damage this satellite may cause,? he said."

I wonder what options they might be.

From a secret launch complex hidden in an extinct volcano on a remote
Japanese island you get someone to launch vehicle which goes up and
swallows-up the spacecraft to be captured and returns it to the remote
launch site, landing vertically. And if it doesn't work, no worries,
you only live twice...

rick jones
--
web2.0 n, the dot.com reunion tour...
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

Rick Jones wrote:
Sylvia Else wrote:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...001028,00.html

"?We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible
damage this satellite may cause,? he said."

I wonder what options they might be.

From a secret launch complex hidden in an extinct volcano on a remote
Japanese island you get someone to launch vehicle which goes up and
swallows-up the spacecraft to be captured and returns it to the remote
launch site, landing vertically. And if it doesn't work, no worries,
you only live twice...

rick jones

I was always amazed at how a secret organisation could develop such
advanced technology. Particularly as all their scientists seemed to
spend their entire time wearing white coats and walking around with
clipboards.

Sylvia.

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:48:54 +1100, Sylvia Else
wrote:

Rick Jones wrote:
Sylvia Else wrote:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...001028,00.html

"?We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible
damage this satellite may cause,? he said."

I wonder what options they might be.

From a secret launch complex hidden in an extinct volcano on a remote
Japanese island you get someone to launch vehicle which goes up and
swallows-up the spacecraft to be captured and returns it to the remote
launch site, landing vertically. And if it doesn't work, no worries,
you only live twice...

I was always amazed at how a secret organisation could develop such
advanced technology. Particularly as all their scientists seemed to
spend their entire time wearing white coats and walking around with
clipboards.

When the Bond movies were edited for PG or PG-13, they had to cut out
all the scenes in the Scientist Harems, leaving only the boring labcoat
and clipboard stuff.. Keep in mind, a happy scientist is a productive
scientist, and Evil Overlords are somewhat handicapped in providing the
more normal sorts of incentive to their staff.


--
*John Schilling * "Anything worth doing, *
*Member:AIAA,NRA,ACLU,SAS,LP * is worth doing for money" *
*Chief Scientist & General Partner * -13th Rule of Acquisition *
*White Elephant Research, LLC * "There is no substitute *
* for success" *
*661-951-9107 or 661-275-6795 * -58th Rule of Acquisition *

On 27 Jan, 00:24, Sylvia Else wrote:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...116226-5001028,...

""We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage
this satellite may cause," he said."

I wonder what options they might be.

Sylvia.

Why not test out an ASAT weapon it? The US have had these for decades
now so hitting the satellite shouldn't be a problem. The smaller
fragments will then be much more likely to burn up than a single
satellite.

On Jan 28, 5:42 pm, Alex Terrell wrote:
On 27 Jan, 00:24, Sylvia Else wrote:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...116226-5001028,...

""We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage
this satellite may cause," he said."

I wonder what options they might be.

Sylvia.

Why not test out an ASAT weapon it? The US have had these for decades
now so hitting the satellite shouldn't be a problem. The smaller
fragments will then be much more likely to burn up than a single
satellite.

1. The US doesn't have an ASAT
2. It would make a problem worse and send fragments higher and wider
endangering other spacecraft

On 28 Jan, 23:11, wrote:
On Jan 28, 5:42 pm, Alex Terrell wrote:

On 27 Jan, 00:24, Sylvia Else wrote:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...116226-5001028,...

""We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage
this satellite may cause," he said."

I wonder what options they might be.

Sylvia.

Why not test out an ASAT weapon it? The US have had these for decades
now so hitting the satellite shouldn't be a problem. The smaller
fragments will then be much more likely to burn up than a single
satellite.

1. The US doesn't have an ASAT

Are you sure? They did have an F-15 launched ASAT weapon a few years
back.(A quick Google confirms congress terminated funding in 1988)

If the Pentagon asks the Chinese to do the job, I'm sure they'd get
their own ASAT in a very short time frame.

2. It would make a problem worse and send fragments higher and wider
endangering other spacecraft

If you hit it at perigee, all fragments would return to the same point
and burn up in a similar time to the original planned burn up.It's a
shame the Chinese didn't do their test on a similar satellite, instead
of adding 20% to the space debris problem.