enthalpy

Friday, February 15, 2008


Honestly, I don't know what to make of this one. It's got more sides than a greased pig.
The falling satellite is named USA 193. It was launched Dec. 14, 2006. It has been described as being similar in size to a school bus and might weigh as much as 10,000 pounds. It carries a sophisticated and secret imaging sensor but the satellite's central computer failed shortly after launch, never reaching its final orbit, and the Pentagon declared it a total loss in early 2007.

Since then, the satellite's orbit has been decaying — slowly at first. But in recent weeks USA 193's nearly circular orbit has been rapidly lowering. Currently, its altitude is approximately 160 miles (260 km) above the Earth.

Unless a proposed plan by the Pentagon is enacted to shoot down USA 193 during the next week, the satellite could conceivably re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up sometime in mid-March.
Ok, this isn't hardly news, but this is getting a lot of press lately. Why? Because the Shuttle is in orbit, or because the story the gubment is telling us doesn't make any damn sense?

Hydrazine? Really? Can a fuel tank full of hydrazine re-enter intact? Well, yeah. But is this just a lame attempt of the Navy to test their missile defense systems on a target in low-earth-orbit? Probably.

Either way, this story has more holes in it than a 1986 era SRB.



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