US Military Satellite Explodes Above Earth

[Purveyor]

A US military satellite exploded after detecting an unexplained “sudden spike in temperature”, sending dozens of chunks of debris tumbling into different orbits around Earth.

Civilian company CelesTrak was first to notice the explosion of the once-secret weather satellite and the US Air Force subsequently confirmed that it had been lost.

The satellite was an ageing component of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program which the US military began developing the in the 1960s to help plan reconnaissance and surveillance missions. In 1972 the system was declassified, and data made available to civilian scientists.

The lost satellite was the 13th to be launched as part of DMSP, designated DMSP-F13, and had been in Earth orbit since 1995.

Air Force Space Command confirmed to SpaceNews.com that the “catastrophic event” came after “a sudden spike in temperature” was detected, followed by “an unrecoverable loss of attitude control”.

more...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11444155/US-military-satellite-explodes-above-Earth.html

[Liberal Veteran]

1. Uh-oh. Hopefully Sandra Bullock isn't doing a spacewalk. -nt

[FLPanhandle]

2. I wonder if the Chinese or Russians have a nice laser

A spike in temperture huh?

[HereSince1628]

3. That was my thought, but why couldn't it be one of OUR lasers??

[TexasProgresive]

5. That's quite possible since it is an "aging"

satellite. Test your anti-satellite laser on it and let everyone think whatever they will.

[HereSince1628]

9. I think that possibility has to remain on the table.

At least until some party gives a confession or other players provide independent reliable information.

[FLPanhandle]

10. Good Point

Only three countries have invested in space weapons, so the list of suspects is short....assuming it was a weapon. A small meteor could have hit it too.

We will probably never know.

[HereSince1628]

13. Yep. n/t

[Lurks Often]

4. I wonder what country it was above when it exploded

It could very well have been the U.S. that tested the laser on it.

[hunter]

7. Or an orbital energy weapon.

That would be fun.

[leveymg]

6. If the Russians or Chinese felt they had to test or demonstrate a sat killer, they wouldn't do so

by targeting one of ours. Practically every country with a military presence in space has some sort of anti-satellite system.

[Anansi1171]

8. Agreed, its more likely a US test of some Anti-Sat capability...

...but with this Kremlin all bets are off.

[leveymg]

11. A laser powerful enough to knock out a high earth orbit would leave an easily observed telltale

link right back to its origin. If this is a test, it's probably from another satellite, and its probably one of ours. The USAF has such a reusable orbital vehicle -- a space plane -- in operation. X-37B (2010):

[dumbcat]

16. What would that telltale be

and how would it be easily observed?

[leveymg]

17. Ionization and light emission within the atmosphere. Scattered laser reflections in orbit.

Any solid object that is targeted by a laser reflects the pulse, which diffracts energy as well as reflects energy back to the source. This can be detected in orbit even if the laser isn't emitting visible light in space. A network of powerful remote sensors would probably be able to determine the position of the energy emitting source in orbit.

[Orrex]

14. Sounds like it could be a micrometeor impact.

That or an alien death ray.

[JHB]

15. Something always gets in the way of the earth-shattering ka-Boom!

[Takket]

18. Oops.

Maybe someone uploaded Fox News to the poor thing and it couldn't take it lol