Satellite could plummet to Earth

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Officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the satellite had lost power and propulsion, and could contain hazardous materials.

The White House said it was monitoring the situation.

A spokesman said "numerous" satellites had come out of orbit and fallen back to Earth harmlessly over the years.

"We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause," said Gordon Johndroe, who speaks for the US National Security Council.

Questioned by The Associated Press, he would not be drawn on whether the US would try to destroy the satellite, perhaps with a missile.

An unnamed official quoted by AP said the US government was keeping lawmakers and other countries abreast of the situation.
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Wasn't there something also about a Meteor getting dangerously close to the Earth around the 29th and messing up things with gravitational fields or something?

The satellite contains the rocket fuel hydrazine, a government official told AP on condition of anonymity.

A colourless liquid with an ammonia-like odour, the fuel is a toxic chemical and can cause harm to anyone who comes in contact with it.

John Pike, director of the defence research group GlobalSecurity.org, said an uncontrolled re-entry could risk exposure of US secrets.

Spy satellites typically are disposed of through a controlled re-entry into the ocean so that no one else can access the spacecraft, he was quoted by AP as saying.

The military expert believes that shooting the satellite down would create debris that would then re-enter the atmosphere and burn up or hit the ground.

In his estimate, the satellite weighs about 20,000 pounds (9,072kg) and is the size of a small bus.

It is possible, he adds, that this one died as long as a year ago and is just now getting ready to re-enter the atmosphere.

Another expert, Jeffrey Richelson of the National Security Archive, said the satellite is probably a photo reconnaissance satellite.
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Yeah, there was a meteor recently that was close to the earth (something like...300,000 miles out, which makes it past the moon, but not by much).

Here's an article.
 
Do you think they're related, like the Meteor affecting the power of the satelite? I heard it could cause random weather abnormalities as well as electrical disturbances.
 
King K. Rool said:
Do you think they're related, like the Meteor affecting the power of the satelite? I heard it could cause random weather abnormalities as well as electrical disturbances.
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Impossible. A meteor, comet, and/or asteroid has nowhere near enough mass to affect the orbits of stallites, especially at that distance. Only solar wind fluctuations can cause random weather abnormalities, or electrical disturbances. Solar wind might knock a meteor to Earth if it shortcircuits the power, but a meteor would only do so if it hit the satellite directly.
 
Probably not (for the next three years at least).
 
I think this story has evolved since Cheese posted it. It's less about falling from the sky with an explosive destruction, but more falling to the ground in tact and into the wrong hands. Most news sources say this is a US spy satellite that somehow experienced systems wide failure, loosing power somehow and is falling slowly.

I wonder why the press would be allowed to come out and publicly inform everyone that this is a SPY satellite. Aren't spy satellites supposed to be, you know, kept secret? Early coverage just said it was classified info, but coming out with it and alerting the world to it doesn't sound like a smart move by the government. Of course, I don't think I could see the satellite surviving very much upon reentry. Most satellites break up upon reentry without any protective heat shields and whatever the atmosphere doesn't get to, the impact most surely will.
 
They're probably hoping that the sheer number of people watching it will keep it out of the wrong hands. Most people wouldn't really care (beyond wanting to know a secret) and would rather their own government get it than someone else (assuming it crashes in the US). Neighborhood watch on a larger scale.
 
Rayne said:
Most news sources say this is a US spy satellite that somehow experienced systems wide failure, loosing power somehow and is falling slowly.

I wonder why the press would be allowed to come out and publicly inform everyone that this is a SPY satellite. Aren't spy satellites supposed to be, you know, kept secret?
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I'm sure that the rule doesn't apply to spy sattelites which are plummeting towards the planet Earth where they could possibly be abused by other countries. Not like we weren't abusing it.
 
Is this a big satellite? Wouldn't falling back to Earth burn it up? Or at least destroy most of it?
 
Rayne said:
I wonder why the press would be allowed to come out and publicly inform everyone that this is a SPY satellite. Aren't spy satellites supposed to be, you know, kept secret? Early coverage just said it was classified info, but coming out with it and alerting the world to it doesn't sound like a smart move by the government.
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The only people who didn't know it was a spy satellite is the American public. The Russians and others figured it long ago.
 
cosmicwind said:
Is this a big satellite? Wouldn't falling back to Earth burn it up? Or at least destroy most of it?
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That depends on the size, structure, and composition of the satellite. From what I understand of the size, if it was an asteroid as opposed to a satellite it would likely be able to destroy a small city thanks to it's composition.

Even if most of the structure of the satellite is destroyed, some records may still exist when it hits the ground.
 
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