Hi everyone, some of you have heard about the satellite down-falling into earth, I know I have! It's kind of scary to think about. You never would have thought a satellite as big as two football fields would be falling to Earth. Well, nobody so far has written about this national event . . . so I'll be the one to tell you.
The satellite that has been falling to Earth was scheduled to hit Earth next year. It was launched December 2006. The military decided to shoot off a missile to blow up the satellite before it hit the atmosphere. It was said to have toxic propellant that could have had a threat to people on Earth.
This possibly deadly satellite was known to have been a "Spy Satellite." Marine Gen. James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff quotes, "We're very confident that we hit the satellite. We also have a high degree of confidence that we got the tank." The tank on the Spy Satellite was holding an estimated 1,000 pounds of corrosive hydrazine propellant.
Cartwright is 80 to 90 percent sure they hit the tank but there is no absolute answer to that yet . . . There is data showing that they hit it but really, they don't know for sure. A tracking camera aboard an aircraft flying over the Pacific captured dramatic images of the intercept, showing the moment of impact and a cloud of debris left behind after the collision. There may have been some kind of explosion but . . . Did they hit the tank that was holding the actual propellant?
The SM-3 missile launched from the USS Lake Erie stationed northwest of Hawaii at 10:26 p.m. EST Wednesday. High seas in the Pacific Ocean threatened to preclude an attempt early in the day, but Navy ships reported acceptable conditions once they arrived at the launch site. A control center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California confirmed the missile successfully crashed into the orbiting spacecraft at an altitude of 153 miles, Pentagon officials claimed.
What if this satellite were to hit the Earth? What if nobody discovered it? It wouldn't have made that much damage, but enough. If the spy satellite were to land, it would have probably landed in a non-populated area. The chances of it hitting a highly-populated area were about 10 percent. What I want you to think about is this: What if we never discovered this satellite? What if we didn't have enough technology to have destroyed this possibly deadly tank attached to it? What if it landed? Just think about this and if you have ANY ideas about these questions or any answers you think could be acceptable and reasonable, tell me. Y-mail anytime, I would love to hear from you . . .
StArOfLuV signing out.
Author's Note: If you want to know more about this please visit www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0802/21nrol21/
