Wow, this is just like something out of a sci-fi novel or movie of my childhood. We have a broken satellite headed to hit the Earth sometime in early March. According to a breaking news story from the Associated Press, we’re planning to shoot the satellite down — apparently to avoid having it injury anyone or anything when it comes down. (Or to keep some of the satellite parts and pieces secret?? I only speculate.)
Details are pretty sketchy for now. The AP story says the Pentagon will have an official announcement later with more details.
The story also points out that this is a “sensitive” issue because last year the U.S. and some other countries protested when the Chinese shot down a defunct weather satellite, apparently because of concerns over debris issues.
Personally, I find it fascinating that we can modify current missile technology to shoot down a falling satellite — but we have to spend billions/trillions of dollars on the so-called “Star Wars” missile defense system that has little or no chance of every working as advertised.
But, I’m no rocket scientist. (Although my son IS a bona fide rocket scientist, with a degree to prove it.) I wish them well. I hope the satellite debris neither falls on anyone nor raises any international fuss. And given the huge amount of space debris we’ve got orbiting the Earth, this issue isn’t likely to go away in our lifetime.
Technorati Tags: falling satellite, space age warfare, missiles, satellite debris, just a guy who reads the papers