What do you think about this?

i never know whether to be angry or laugh anymore. the human race is a bunch of buffoons. maybe we deserve to die in filth and poison of our own making. giant irradiated cockroaches can't do much worse when they inherit the mess we leave 'em...

Just get some of the heads on here to get there guns out and shoot it down.

If it's true what they say and it is "barely in orbit" then it makes sense to blow it apart rather than let it re-enter the atmosphere as one piece. If it is blown apart, all the pieces will burn up in the atmosphere. So, what's the problem?

That's awesome...

its actually a great way to test weapons systems. i am surprised they have not been doing this already intentionally.

anyways, we need to practice for when that big asteroid pays us a visit in 2028.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/asteroid_update_041227.html

quote:

Originally posted by Rich:
the sat isn't the prob, the half ton of fuel onboard is.

The "problem" is all the classified surveillance gear that might survive the fall and be analyzed by other powers. You don't want our spy satellite landing partially-intact in the Ruskies' backyard, do you, comrade? ;-)

quote:

its actually a great way to test weapons systems. i am surprised they have not been doing this already intentionally.

I think they could do that on something other than a multi billion dollar satellites that was just launched a few months ago!!

I agree with sloppy, I think they're shooting it down to protect the classified stuff that might survive re-entry.

I was listening to Coast to Coast last night and they had some guy talking about how it's just a dummy satellite. He said that was engineered to fall out of orbit so that George could test out a new missle system and show China and Russia that we have this capability. He was also saying that they're probably lying to us about the missle they're gonna use to shoot it down, it's not what they say it is, but a new missle technology we have yet to test.

quote:

I was listening to Coast to Coast last night and they had some guy talking about how it's just a dummy satellite. He said that was engineered to fall out of orbit so that George could test out a new missle system and show China and Russia that we have this capability. He was also saying that they're probably lying to us about the missle they're gonna use to shoot it down, it's not what they say it is, but a new missle technology we have yet to test.

I'm wondering why the government is 'bragging' about shooting it down so much in the press. It seems a little strange spend $60 million to shoot down a $15 billion satellite because of a little hydrazine. This satellite was launched less than a year ago and was NEVER USED ... oh well, I guess that's 'SMALL???' government for ya.

That's probably closer to the point. Reagan started this with 'Star Wars' which was supposed to be a way to take out intercontinental ballistic missiles while in flight. In truth, it's not that we're worried about nukes getting launched at us, but instead is about having a military method to control space. The country that controls space and near-earth orbit has a monopoly on what can be sent up and put into orbit.
Obviously, other countries don't think that's too fair.

I think stuff like this is utterly fascinating and really don't care for what reason they're doing it. I's just love to be able to see it! They say that the shit will go through two entire orbits before it reenters. I wish that asteroid had hit Mars last month. Woulda been neat. They say Betelgeuse could explode any day now*. That'd be a show.

By the way, full lunar eclipse tonight about 8:00. Should be neat!

*Yeah, yeah, 500 light years, blah blah blah. Let's not get too geeky.

i'm with ya ... that stuff is purdy cool!!!

it's like 15 billion dollar fireworks!

"They say Betelgeuse could explode any day now"

are we talking earth days??

Kinda. As far as we know, Betelgeuse went supernova 500 years ago tomorrow. Maybe not. There's been a lot of talk about it lately for some reason.

If you're like me, and a bit miffed at missing the lunar eclipse tonight because of the damned clouds, you can always download Stellarium for free and see the virtual eclipse in real time. Not nearly as cool, though.

NERDS!!!*



*I'm a nerd too....

yeah, i had the kids prep the telescope monday and we were all practiced to get a really good look at this eclipse...

quote:

Betelgeuse

its a big deal because Betelgeuse is very large (662 * Sun), and if it goes supernova (when that light gets to us), it may well be brighter than the moon.


http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/ask/a11237.html

quote:

Originally posted by MLX John:
NERDS!!!*



*I'm a nerd too....

No, no, do it right, man!


NEEERRRRRDDDSSSS!

I'm sure that Webmonkey knows that Betelgeuse as well as Antares are supergiants.

Just sayin', nerds.

quote:

Originally posted by foodstamps:

As much as I love space, I can't get over the creep-factor of this guy. Maybe its because my heart belongs to Bill...

quote:

Originally posted by gio:

quote:

Originally posted by foodstamps:

As much as I love space, I can't get over the creep-factor of this guy. Maybe its because my heart belongs to Bill...

I think this guy knows way more about science than those nerds