Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

ASTRA 1K De-orbited

Posted by michael on from the splashdown dept.

dda writes "Following the story about ASTRA 1K launch failure: Early this morning, it has been de-orbited over the pacific ocean, due to the rapid degradation of the satellite, coupled to the technical difficulties and risks associated with such a mission, according to the SES-ASTRA operator."

8 of 15 comments (clear)

  1. "De-orbit" by BigChigger · · Score: 4, Funny

    geez now we use politcally correct terms for satellites getting cratered.

    BC

  2. doh? by Noodlenose · · Score: 2
    Sigh.

    Isn't there any safe method to get those birds up in the sky? Where is Kim Stanley Robinson's Space Elevator when you need it...

  3. Trash by Profane+Motherfucker · · Score: 1, Troll

    Scenario: I'm out boating. I decide to take a few tons of heavy metals, computer components, batteries, and corrosion resistant materials and just toss the fucking loot into the ocean.

    Before doing this, I make a press release entitled:
    LISTEN HERE HIZZOS! I AM DUMPING ILLEGAL SHIT INTO THE OCEAN!

    Why don't space companies have to clean up after their fucking messes? I want to throw shit into the ocean too! Look at the trouble that Carnival got into about dumping trash. This isn't trash too? Granted, it's not diseases feces and medical waste along with food, but I cannot imagine the ocean really needs more garbage tossed into it.

    1. Re: Trash by oni · · Score: 2

      Who do you propose they pay?

    2. Re: Trash by Profane+Motherfucker · · Score: 1

      Pay whomever cleans it up.

    3. Re: Trash by oni · · Score: 2

      Your naivety is amusing. There is no one who can find, let alone recover that satellite - assuming any of it survived.

  4. Space elevators? by hollow_man · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually it wasn't KSR who introduced the space elevator. Arthur C. Clarke had popularized it before in his novel Fountains of Paradise. In his foreword he credits Yuri Artsutanov who wrote about Space Elevators in Pravda in the 1960s.

    --
    Full Time Idiot and Miserable Sod
    Nothing is real but the pain
  5. Re:In Soviet Russia... by presearch · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Yeah, I know the pattern. We all do by now.
    I was attempting to diffuse poor humor by not
    following the expected format, considering that Russia
    was actually relevant to the thread. Nyet!