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Call In the Military To Blast Rogue Satellite?
coondoggie submitted a follow-up to the tale of the wandering satellite that might collide with other stuff in orbit. He asks "Will the military need to be called in to blow up the rogue Intelsat satellite meandering through Earth's orbit? Or maybe a NASA Space Shuttle could swing by and grab it? You may recall that in 2008, rather than risk that a large piece of a failing spy satellite would fall on populated areas, the government blasted it out of the sky. The physics of such a shot were complicated and the Navy had a less than 10-second window to hit the satellite as it passed over its ships in the Pacific Ocean. But it worked. Now word comes that a five-year-old Intelsat TV satellite is meandering in orbit and attempts to control it have proven futile. At issue now is that the satellite could smash into other satellites or ramble into other satellite orbits and abscond with their signals."
Well, I guess now at least we know what the launch of that secretive X-37B Air Force shuttle was for. So we should be safe, assuming that a PS3 update doesn't screw up its aiming system.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
With "privatize the space industry" all in vogue these days, the government should issue Satellite Hunting Licenses to private companies, with $$$ prizes for taking it out.
Let the private sector nail that varmint!
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
What if everyone on earth pointed their laser pointers at it at the same time? It would have at least as good a chance as sending the space shuttle.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
If this stops satellite TV stations from polluting the skies with gameshows and comedies, I'm all in favour of blowing the satellite up in the way that causes the worst debris field possible.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
The F-15 launched ASM-135 ASAT - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASM-135_ASAT [wikipedia.org] - could go up to 350 miles.
Galaxy 15 is at 22,230 miles
So that just means you need 64 of them, right?
sic transit gloria mundi