Interceptor Missile Fails Test Launch

jangobongo writes "The US missile defense system suffered a serious setback today, just 2 weeks before it was scheduled to be activated. A target ICBM was launched from Alaska, but crashed harmlessly into the ocean as the interceptor missile based on an atoll in the Pacific Ocean shut itself down due to an unknown "anomaly". The cause of the failure could have been anything from a software glitch to a major hardware malfunction."

Comments

Re:How?

[Thunderstruck]

In answer to your questions:
1. My first memories of television include "The Day After." Anything that might assuage my permanent fear of getting vaporized can be justified to me.
2. We're already IN Afghanistand and Iraq. We can't just up and leave. The issue of whether we should have gone in the first place should color future discussion, but not dissuade us from cleaning up the mess as best we can.
3. Buy US made goods.
4. By "simplifying" the tax code. Every time we do this it usually results in higher taxes to our large middle class.
5. See number 4?
6. Really cheap stealth spy sattelites?? (Editor's note, this post begins to loose credibility around point number 3. It gets worse from there. I really do have a persistent twitch that goes off whenever they test the civil defense sirens though. That movie was scarring!)

it could have been worse...

[Legato895]

in order to prove just how reliable these things are, bush could have aimed a icbm at a city to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the system worked when the rest of the world invades us, how bout we devise a system of immunity... for example, smearing sheep blood over the door frame of our houses allowing the house to house sweeps to passover the select few and not shoot us and our families in the knees

And the better course of action is?

[DumbSwede]

This probably won't be a popular opinion with the slashdot crowd, but the argument used to be there where no rival powers after the end of the Cold-War that could threaten the U.S. with nuclear ICBMs, thus missile defense was a colossal waste of money. And besides any terrorist nuclear threat was likely to come in via a storage container or small boat along our coast.

While the latter is still possible, we now have Korea probably a nuclear power, Iran trying to become a nuclear power and both developing ICBMs. And all I hear here is about what a waste of money this is. Even an imperfect shield is likely to be a deterrent to nuclear blackmail from Korea or Iran. And just call it a guess, but like Israel or not, if Iran had the bomb and a missile, I give it a 50-50 chance of just being crazy enough to lob it at Tel-Aviv.

I would rather see some slashdot reasonable alternatives to pursuing this technology that is other than wishful thinking and a can't-we-all-just-get-along mantra.

Did we make in Iraq? No doubt. Being wrong in Iraq doesn't mean we should prepare for threats from this area of the globe.

Shameful misinformation

[Twirlip of the Mists]

This is really embarrassing. Whomever this "samzenpus" is, he should be ashamed of himself. Virtually nothing in this summary is correct.

The shutdown was triggered by a fault in the sensors in the kill vehicle's boost-stage rocket. This fault was detected during the regular pre-launch check and the decision was made at that time to scrub the test.

Yes, the target drone was lost, but guess what: That's what they're for. They exist only to be destroyed. The minute that candle was lit, that drone became a write-off. An expensive write-off, sure, but that's life.

The choices were to continue with the test and miss out on a big chunk of important telemetry --destroying an even more expensive kill vehicle in the process -- or to scrub the test, fix the sensor problem and try again with another target drone.

The choice made was the right one. Explaining this to your average wire service reporter is obviously not an easy task. But it's kind of embarrassing that a Web site that purports to carry "news for nerds" should just parrot the misinformation carried in the wire service report.

Re:Is it worth it?

[oingoboingo]

You cannot put a price on American lives.

The leaders of several Iraqi-based terrorist organisations don't seem to have any difficulty calculating cash rewards for the successful termination of American lives. Where there's a supply and a demand, there's a market.

Re:Bob said it best

[Frank T. Lofaro Jr.]

It's crap to even think Bush will nuke a country without us getting nuked first.

We aren't that way. World War 2 was an exception - and the rest of the world didn't even seem to mind what we did.

We aren't going to nuke North Korea, etc, unless they nuke us first.

In which case, I'd hope you'd all support a full counter attack - to make sure that the threat from them is neutralized and to strongly dissuade any others from doing that to us.