The news is just as if it is coming out of Hollywood. Of course, when is it not? A satellite is on a crash collision course with earth and will cause deaths if it hits the ground.
President Bush signed an order to shoot down the bus-sized satellite in hopes that if it is in pieces it will burn up in the earth's atmosphere. Of course, it has to cause tensions with other countries-what good Hollywood plot does not.So the United States officials are in mad rush calling other countries of the plan to shoot it down. Fox News reports officials are stressing that the plan does not signal the start of a new American anti-satellite weapons program.
Military and administration officials say the satellite is carrying fuel called hydrazine that could injure or even kill people who are near it when it hits the ground. That reason alone, they say, persuaded President Bush to order the shoot-down, which could happen as early as next week. Short-term exposure to hydrazine could cause coughing, irritated throat and lungs, convulsions, tremors or seizures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Long-term exposure could damage the liver, kidney and reproductive organs.
Left alone, the satellite would crash back into the atmosphere during the first week of March. About half the 5,000-pound spacecraft would be expected to survive its blazing descent, scattering debris over several hundred miles.
There is now a website that people can go to in order to track the dead satellite. By going to http://www.n2yo.com/?s=29651 you can see where the satellite is at any given moment. I, personally, went to the site, but had no clue what all of it meant or where exactly I was looking. Those more familiar with that kind of tracking will find it very useful. Nonetheless, I thought it was very interesting.
The government hopes to take a shot at it in the upcoming week. They will make one shot then reassess the plan of action.
Besides the obvious concern of the chemical leaking out and causing deaths, government officials are concerned about parts of the satellite showing up on ebay.
"We are worried about something showing up on e-Bay," defense and intelligence expert John Pike said, adding that breaking up the satellite's pieces lessens the chance that sensitive U.S. technology could wind up in Chinese hands.
"What they have to be worried about is that a souvenir collector is going to find some piece, put it on e-Bay and the Chinese buy it," said Pike, who is director of the defense research group GlobalSecurity.org.
"The Chinese and the Russians spend an enormous amount of time trying to steal American technology," Pike said last week. "To have our most sophisticated radar intelligence satellite - have big pieces of it fall into their hands - would not be our preferred outcome."
Known by its military designation US 193, the satellite was launched in December 2006. It lost power and its central computer failed almost immediately afterward, leaving it uncontrollable. It carried a sophisticated and secret imaging sensor.
For now we sit and wait as the Hollywood drama plays out. It is captivating. I encourage you to check out the website and see the satellite for yourself and keep updated. You never know if you will have to take cover.
