Satellite Shootdown

[TedTheLed]

what I don't get is how they shoot it 'down' .. ?
if the satellite is hit by a missile from here, why is it not pushed out further into space?
yet they say it, or the pieces, would come down a couple days later..
I'm sure there'e an Occams razor-like splanation, but I can't figure it out ...
thanks in advance to the 'splainers..

(..as I go to hit the post button i think maybe it has to do with the angle of trajectory; if it's a low enough angle it might slow the satellite down enough to cause it to fall...? )

 

[HEY HEY ITS HENDO]

The video was shown on CNN this morning at a press conference. Here's a video of that press conference. Gizmodo.

Great video !! ....... this bit made me chuckle

"The video, however, shows that the direct kinetic hit has completely obliterated its target.
Now the world can rest at peace......
Until A542B, that asteroid ten times bigger than Texas, finally arrives."

 

[Steve K]

what I don't get is how they shoot it 'down' .. ?
if the satellite is hit by a missile from here, why is it not pushed out further into space?
yet they say it, or the pieces, would come down a couple days later..
I'm sure there'e an Occams razor-like splanation, but I can't figure it out ...
thanks in advance to the 'splainers..

I think your instinct is correct... i.e. whacking the satellite with a kinetic weapon doesn't knock it down in the same way that occurs when a plane is hit.

The key bit of info is that the satellite was low enough that the atmospheric drag is slowing it down and bringing it down regardless. The anti-sat missile is just there to break up the satellite into smaller bits that will certainly burn up into harmless-ish projectiles.

Interesting that the US is engaging in this behavior, though. In the late 80's, we tested an anti-satellite missile that was fired from an F-15 (I was working for McDonnell Douglas then). It worked fine, but there was a big backlash to militarizing space, so it was scrapped. Not sure why the original Star Wars program didn't get the same response, other than it was soooo far out of our reach. I was still happy to spend a couple of years working on a program related to Star Wars. "Welfare for engineers", or something like that.

Steve K.

 

[fxstsb]

what I don't get is how they shoot it 'down' .. ?
if the satellite is hit by a missile from here, why is it not pushed out further into space?
yet they say it, or the pieces, would come down a couple days later..
I'm sure there'e an Occams razor-like splanation, but I can't figure it out ...
thanks in advance to the 'splainers..

(..as I go to hit the post button i think maybe it has to do with the angle of trajectory; if it's a low enough angle it might slow the satellite down enough to cause it to fall...? )

Just a question: If you threw a rock at a kite in the sky and hit it, what would happen?
If you threw a rock at a kite in space and hit it, what would happen?
What if when you hit it, it was on a descending path?

 

[TedTheLed]

yes but, I understand you're saying the satellite was on it's way down anyway, but don't you think waiting till two days before it's due date to crash into earth cuttting it a little thin? did shooting it not bring it down any sooner than it was going to come down? or was it really going to crash (intact) in a couple of days?

 

[Icebreak]

TLD -

There's a graphic video on this site that shows what they meant to do. The kill vehicle was traveling at 5,000 mph and supposed to hit the satellite almost head on. The satellite was traveling at 17,000 mph for a combined closure rate of 22,000 mph. I haven't found anything much on the reentry except it was taking place Friday. Some Canadians reported seeing several trails Wednesday night when they were watching the lunar eclipse.

Strangely today, my cell's voice signal works fine but the GPS, email and TV applications report "Network Unavailable".