Spy Satellite Has Lost Power, Could Hit Earth By Late Feb., or March

[THUNDER HANDS]

Source: MSNBC TV

A U.S. Spy Satellite lost power and propulsion and could crash land on Earth within the next month, just reported on MSNBC. No link yet.

Read more: MSNBC

[Journeyman]

1. Well, if its lost power and propulsion there's no "could" about its crashing. . .

the only questions are when and where. They should be able to calculate when fairly soon -- seems a simple matter of physics. But unlike Skylab, they won't be able to give it a "boost" to keep it from hitting our hemisphere, so we'll have to wait to see who wins the NSA crap shoot.

[benh57]

9. almost

True, sort of... but that 'when and where' could be thousands, or millions of years away. The moon has no 'power and propulsion', but you don't see it crashing to earth. There is such a thing as a stable orbit.

[Xithras]

30. No, spy satellites are kept low

When you're taking pictures of the ground, the lower you are clearer your pictures will be. Most ground observing satellites are in extremely low orbits and experience slight drag from the upper atmosphere. Without computers and propulsion to constantly correct its course, it will come down fairly quickly.

We have satellites in orbit that will stay up there for hundreds of thousands of years unless someone pulls them down, but none of them are spy sats.

[Stewie]

31. I think the "could" refers to when it hits, not if.

They need to get Clint Eastwood and Jim Garner up there after it.

[Control-Z]

2. Here's a link to the latest

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155ap_dead_satellite.html

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

3. Could have hazardous materials aboard

Information not being shared by US Gov't.

[fenriswolf]

4. its a spy satellite

HI NSA :hi: :hi:

[RL3AO]

26. Most satellites have beryllium on them.

[mac2]

50. Is that good for the environment Congress?

What goes up must come down. Do we send garbage people up to space to clean up from your "let no man go where..." blah, blah? We are at war and in huge debt but we must go to Mars, etc. It's a money spending thing for the big Space corporations. It's not about security.

our priorities are all wrong.

[Joanne98]

5. One less spy in the world!

[Whoa_Nelly]

14. Out of how many...?

The thought hurts my brain



There are nearly ten thousand man-made objects larger than a softball in Earth orbit. Of these, only seven percent are operational satellites. The remaining ninety-three percent consists of dead satellites, rocket fragments and debris. While these objects are generally very far apart, their presence and great velocity can potentially interfere with space missions and even threaten the lives of astronauts - a tiny speck of paint from a satellite once dug a quarter-inch hole in a space shuttle window. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has been tracking these objects since 1961. Today, before every critical launch, analysts perform a collision avoidance test to make sure the mission will not cross paths with any of these objects.
http://www.massivechange.com/2006/07/14/seeing-is-believing-then-what/




U.S. to Expand
Domestic Use
Of Spy Satellites
By ROBERT BLOCK
August 15, 2007

The U.S.'s top intelligence official has greatly expanded the range of federal and local authorities who can get access to information from the nation's vast network of spy satellites in the U.S.

The decision, made three months ago by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, places for the first time some of the U.S.'s most powerful intelligence-gathering tools at the disposal of domestic security officials. The move was authorized in a May 25 memo sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking his department to facilitate access to the spy network on behalf of civilian agencies and law enforcement.

Until now, only a handful of federal civilian agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey, have had access to the most basic spy-satellite imagery, and only for the purpose of scientific and environmental study.

According to officials, one of the department's first objectives will be to use the network to enhance border security, determine how best to secure critical infrastructure and help emergency responders after natural disasters. Sometime next year, officials will examine how the satellites can aid federal and local law-enforcement agencies, covering both criminal and civil law. The department is still working on determining how it will engage law enforcement officials and what kind of support it will give them.

Access to the high-tech surveillance tools would, for the first time, allow Homeland Security and law-enforcement officials to see real-time, high-resolution images and data, which would allow them, for example, to identify smuggler staging areas, a gang safehouse, or possibly even a building being used by would-be terrorists to manufacture chemical weapons.

Overseas -- the traditional realm of spy satellites -- the system was used to monitor tank movements during the Cold War. Today, it's used to monitor suspected terrorist hideouts, smuggling routes for weapons in Iraq, nuclear tests and the movement of nuclear materials, as well as to make detailed maps for U.S. soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Plans to provide DHS with significantly expanded access have been on the drawing board for over two years. The idea was first talked about as a possibility by the Central Intelligence Agency after 9/11 as a way to help better secure the country. "It is an idea whose time has arrived," says Charles Allen, the DHS's chief intelligence officer, who will be in charge of the new program. DHS officials say the program has been granted a budget by Congress and has the approval of the relevant committees in both chambers.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118714764716998275.html

[aquart]

16. God, we're messy

Is that how to search for sentient life in the universe? Look for the garbage?

[Adsos Letter]

6. Have the Chinese/Russians been engaging in some target practice?

:shrug:

[truthisfreedom]

7. It's time for us to have orbiting rovers that can attach themselves to dead satellites and bring

them in safely.

[jazzjunkysue]

45. What about lame duck presidents?

Got anything for that?

[Tight_rope]

61. I know the perfect person it shoud it...but I can't say..

[DavidDvorkin]

8. Oh, no! Saddam could attack us while we're blind!

With all those WMDs! Which he must have taken with him, which is why we can't find them.

[FarCenter]

11. There are more where that one came from

[calimary]

17. Oh didn't you hear? huckabee spilled the beans at the debate the other

night. Saddam had all those WMD hidden by the Easter Bunny.

:eyes:

[DavidDvorkin]

19. Not the Eids bunny?

[floridablue]

22. Do you mean the Easter Bunny has WMD ????

OMG.... Chicken Little where are you. :?????? Save us. Where is John Ashcroft. We need a new color chart for this.

[rucognizant]

35. Yes

Pink & Lavender

[calimary]

51. Welcome to DU!

Chicken Little was at the presidential podium a few State of the Unions ago, scaring us all with talk of all that VX nerve agent and hundreds of gallons of sarin and evil swarthy men with facial hair! BOO!!!!

[Schema Thing]

10. I hate to be such a hypochondriac

but I just know this thing has my name on it.

[dweller]

12. cool

i was just gonna ask what it was named.

dp

[ingac70]

40. As soon as I heard this report on the radio...

I had a mental picture of it, or a big piece of it, hitting my house. Something like that falls under the heading "Just my luck".

[Zenlitened]

13. "Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation"

:yoiks:

[Control-Z]

23. Do we have

any appropriate government agencies still?

[jazzjunkysue]

46. Yeah. That makes me feel better.

[melody]

55. Straight out of the Arabian Horse Breeders Association n/t

[Kool Kitty]

63. Aw, shit.

That means we're truly screwed.

[Purveyor]

15. I ponder, is China playing with their newest toys perhaps? eom

[7 of 11]

20. or a hacker.

[i want in]

18. We could get lucky

The spy sat might land on Bushes crawford ranch while he and chaney are sleeping.

[floridablue]

21. If it reaches Earth does it have immunity from prosecution?

[CreekDog]

24. 70% or greater chance it lands in the ocean

and chances are if it hits land, it hits nothing.

if you think you are going to be hit by this, buy a lotto ticket, you have about the same chance of winning that as getting hit by this satellite.

[RL3AO]

25. But if it makes it to land some of the data could survive which isn't good.

[Nevernose]

38. No, it won't.

Between the 2,000 degree reentry temperatures and the impact, there won't be anything usable left -- not even enough parts to re-engineer it to figure out what it looked like, much less how it worked. Besides which, the spy satellites don't store information, they just pass it on.

[Dr.Phool]

27. Aww shit!

I just bought a lottery ticket. And with my luck, I'll get nailed by a satellite while I'm on my way to cash it!

[CreekDog]

28. haha

:rofl:

[tranche]

37. Hoping for the Taco Bell target!

Hit the target, free Taco for everyone on earth...

[messiah]

29. Probably a nuclear powered Satellite

................

[mac2]

42. We protested that but they did it anyway?

[SayitAintSo]

32. Oh Crap! n/t

[paparush]

33. Um..Mir broke up and no damage was done. A shuttle broke up and no damage was done

Sats decay and burn all the time. There are groups that follow decay forecasts and post the orbital data.
http://satobs.org/decay.html

No big deal.

The questions is: Did something attack this sat?

[bluerum]

34. Ha ha. It will crash, mostly intact, in Russia. They will see this as a stealth

chemical attack, and will react by launching a retaliatory strike against our cheese and french fry factories.

:sarcasm:

[Ian David]

36. The only survivors will be a man who drinks sterno, and a crying baby with colic. n/t

[Paulie]

52. And the one unmarried man.

Maybe the monkey too?

[MilesColtrane]

53. Hope that prediction didn't Strain you.

[eppur_se_muova]

39. link at BBC ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7211443.stm

[mac2]

41. Did they use Chinese parts?

[eowyn_of_rohan]

43. Bring it on

[mac2]

48. Even our most important projects have parts we didn't manufacture

We don't know what is safe and what is not. People protested as these companies closed but Congress sat on the asses.

Impeach Bush...and don't vote for the old Empire Builders...or their pretenders.

[Demeter]

44. I've Been Trying To Figure Out Why This Is Coming Out Now

First of all, there is no way it's going to get shot out of the sky, for the same reason Star Wars will not work: it's like expecting to knock a bullet out of the air by shooting another bullet at it. We don't have the technology to do that, and the orbits are so crowded that anything less precise could take out some important and still functional stuff with it.

Second, this is way in the future--and if they are giving other nations a heads up, that should be done through diplomatic channels: "Oh, by the way, there's a minute chance that tons of space junk, including chemical and radioactive debris, will come down upon your heads sometime in the next few months..."

No. It just doesn't make any sense to issue this announcement--unless they want to be the amateur astronomers and geeks to the punch. But why?

And if they know it's in a month, they know where, within less than 1000 miles.

[mac2]

49. It's the old chaos and fear smoke screen

They are trying to get Cheney impeached.

[jazzjunkysue]

47. Saddam put them there! Weapons of space destruction!

No, sorry. It was Clinton.

[superconnected]

54. Link? I'd like to know Who's.

[Endangered Specie]

56. So when do they send a half dozen geriatric cosmonauts to fix it?

a la:

[CGowen]

62. US spy satellites KH-12 are called "IKON", it's the same name as in the movie for the Russian one

Forty years later, IKON, a Russian satellite, is reentering the atmosphere. It contains an outdated system based on a design by Corvin. Oddly enough, Corvin's system, originally designed for Skylab, found its way into a Russian satellite at the height of the Cold War.

http://www.haro-online.com/movies/space_cowboys.html


The KH-12, commonly known as "Advanced Key Hole", also known by the codenames Ikon and Improved Crystal, is a successor to the KH-11 reconnaissance satellite and also used digital imaging. It is believed that the KH-12 improved upon the previous design by including signals intelligence capabilities, sensitivity in broader light spectrums (probably into infrared), and possibly including the ability to view "live" images. Data is transmitted through a relay network of communications satellites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-12

[Bo]

57. Bets are being places on the GPS coordinates

Apparently there is a nice bet line out of the UK

[alfredo]

58. Here's an image of the craft

[Javaman]

59. You know, with any luck...

damn, can't finish that sentance, otherwise the FBI would be paying me a visit.

But you get the drift. LOL :evilgrin:

[LanternWaste]

60. Wouldn't it simply burn up on re-entry? n/t

Wouldn't it simply burn up on re-entry?

[Nihil]

64. Not guaranteed (hence the fuss).

From the BBC article:
> ... the satellite weighs about 20,000 pounds (9,000kg)
> and is the size of a small bus.

Maybe it will, maybe it wont ...

:shrug:

[underpants]

65. The NRO- before they attacked us with their rogue spy satellite

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2776762&mesg_id=2776762