Comments on: It blowed up real good http://www.yourish.com/2008/02/21/4418 Cutting straight to the point Mon, 13 Feb 2012 02:14:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: John M. http://www.yourish.com/2008/02/21/4418/comment-page-1#comment-30987 John M. Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:30:49 +0000 http://www.yourish.com/2008/02/21/4418#comment-30987 Tom Frank, "they would have simply deorbited it, rather than having to shoot it down." Not to quibble, but they could not just de-orbit it. In this case, it was already "self de-oribiting", but they were still afraid a big enough chunk would get to the ground to cause harm. So, as it fell, they chose to "disassemble it with extreme prejudice". I see what you mean about the thing having to be controllable though. But even given that and the extra weight, one would think it would still be less expensive to have an on-board solution rather than a ground based solution. Unless, of course, you already have the ground based solution for another reason. Hmmmm... Tom Frank,

“they would have simply deorbited it, rather than having to shoot it down.”

Not to quibble, but they could not just de-orbit it. In this case, it was already “self de-oribiting”, but they were still afraid a big enough chunk would get to the ground to cause harm. So, as it fell, they chose to “disassemble it with extreme prejudice”.

I see what you mean about the thing having to be controllable though. But even given that and the extra weight, one would think it would still be less expensive to have an on-board solution rather than a ground based solution.

Unless, of course, you already have the ground based solution for another reason. Hmmmm…

]]> By: Long_Rifle http://www.yourish.com/2008/02/21/4418/comment-page-1#comment-30984 Long_Rifle Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:01:02 +0000 http://www.yourish.com/2008/02/21/4418#comment-30984 Beautiful! Space... Big explosion... And angering the Eastern Bloc... Reagan would be proud. Hell, the only way it could have gone any better was if Slim Pickens had been riding that thing. Beautiful!

Space…

Big explosion…

And angering the Eastern Bloc…

Reagan would be proud.

Hell, the only way it could have gone any better was if Slim Pickens had been riding that thing.

]]> By: Tom Frank http://www.yourish.com/2008/02/21/4418/comment-page-1#comment-30982 Tom Frank Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:31:29 +0000 http://www.yourish.com/2008/02/21/4418#comment-30982 And because any safe form of self-destruct mechanism would require that the satellite be functional...and if it had been functional, they would have simply deorbited it, rather than having to shoot it. Catch 22. And because any safe form of self-destruct mechanism would require that the satellite be functional…and if it had been functional, they would have simply deorbited it, rather than having to shoot it.

Catch 22.

]]> By: Tatterdemalian http://www.yourish.com/2008/02/21/4418/comment-page-1#comment-30980 Tatterdemalian Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:35:40 +0000 http://www.yourish.com/2008/02/21/4418#comment-30980 Because self-destruct mechanisms are heavy, and satellites are expensive enough already without the added fuel costs (which rise exponentially with mass). Because self-destruct mechanisms are heavy, and satellites are expensive enough already without the added fuel costs (which rise exponentially with mass).

]]> By: John M. http://www.yourish.com/2008/02/21/4418/comment-page-1#comment-30974 John M. Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:06:20 +0000 http://www.yourish.com/2008/02/21/4418#comment-30974 To be technically accurate, they did not really "shoot down" the satellite. The orbit had decayed to the point that it would have crashed anyway. The re-entry was not hastened by the impact. They just blew it into little peices to make sure it all burned up on re-entry rather than landing as one big, poisonous chunk. I wonder why they don't just put self-destruct mechanisms in them if they're that dangerous. To be technically accurate, they did not really “shoot down” the satellite. The orbit had decayed to the point that it would have crashed anyway. The re-entry was not hastened by the impact. They just blew it into little peices to make sure it all burned up on re-entry rather than landing as one big, poisonous chunk.

I wonder why they don’t just put self-destruct mechanisms in them if they’re that dangerous.

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