satellite shoot-down

Hotdog · Post by **Hotdog** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:18 pm

so i hear we are about to attempt to shoot down a spy satellite with a missile. i haven't read much about it, but would it be possible to use the shuttle to pick up the satellite in the event all shoot down attempts fail? i heard the satellite is the size of a bus, but so is the orbiter's cargo bay. the only reason i can think of why we couldn't bring the satellite down with the shuttle would be if the satellite is in geosyncronous (sp) orbit and out of the shuttle's reach. by the time the satellite dropped into the shuttle's orbital range, it would probably be going too fast by then to intercept. anyone got the scoop on this?

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:30 pm

Ok, im not sure about this, but has the shuttle ever intercepted something not working properly? Capturing something that's working perfectly is hard enough, let alone a guge satellite that is litterally falling out of the sky? But this seems like something risky to do, especially since the shuttle would have to launch on short notice. Does anybody know if the shuttle had recovered a dead sat?

Post by **Vincent** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:19 pm

Solar Max comes to mind.

http://heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/mi ... armax.html

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:18 pm

Solar Max isnt the only malfunctioning sattelite reovered some also had no control over them Endeaour recovered one on her first mission, and i know there were 2 or 3 others early on. the 3 biggest reasons for the shuttle not doing this. 1. It probaboy doesn't have a grapple fixture for the shuttle's arm, this makes a capture very difficult though not impossible. 2. It's doubtful the shuttle could use the iss as a safe haven if there is damage to the orbiter. Yes they are planning another hubble servicing later this year but another orbiter will be on standby for a rescue. Which brings me to a 3rd point time. A shuttle crew would have to go through a crash training program. NASA would have to figure out how to grab it to begin with. And there isnt much time as i recall to prepare an orbiter for this flight, a rescue orbiter for potential rescue, and it pushes back an already tight launch schedule for the next 2 years.

gt0163c · Post by **gt0163c** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:17 am

Plus, there's the question of whether it's worth it to recover and repair this satellite. I've heard very little about what this particular satellite does, other than that it's a "spy satellite". Depending on how it is malfunctioning, it may not be feasible to actually fix it. Also, depending on when it was launched, there's the question of how technologically relevant the satellite is. It may be that it has already become mostly or partly obsolete and, therefore, it is more cost effective to dispose of it and either use other means to obtain the information this satellite was providing or spend the money to build and launch a replacement.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:54 am

This particular sattelite was only launched last year. Ofcourse we dont know if the technology has been outdated on it since though because the specs are classified on sattrel;ites like this one.

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:45 pm

And of course the astronauts could be communist spies

but seriously it does sound dangerous and thanks for the info. I'm thinking that while we HAVE attempted this, the current space program wouldn't want to take the risks involved, especially with potential damage to the shuttle from trying this. I heard shoot-down attempt tonight if conditions are good plus a window the rest of the month

Hotdog · Post by **Hotdog** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:26 am

the Intelsat that Endeavour intercepted on its first mission in '93 was not capturable with the robot arm, and it took 3 astronauts on a daring EVA to grab hold of it and pull it into the cargo bay to perform repairs.

the Atlantis was in orbit last week. i would not expect astronauts trained for an ISS expansion mission to sweep over and perform a seat-of-the-pants fix it operation on short notice. however, an EVA to drain the satellites' fuel tank would be fairly simple to orchestrate i would think. that alone would have saved us from having to shoot the satellite down. not so sure if it would be cheaper or safer though...

did NASA or the military not at least consider this first? or were they just itching to test out some star wars type weaponry?

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 1:21 pm

I don't know that tha kind of rescue would have been possible anyway. Unplanned orbital maneuvers of such magnitude are ussualy not possible. I don't know that it would have been here because i don t know how their orbits compared. Remember its the diffrence in orbits that keeps a hubble servicing mission from docking with the iss in an emergency.

As for draining the fuel that presents another problem altogether. It would have to be done by a member of the crew. The fuel hydrazine is highly toxic assuming they could even get to the tanks to drain it. The fuel would most likely end up on 1 or both astronauts and at the very least in the cargo bay. The astron auts would then bring it into the airlock thus into the orbiter and more crew would be exposed to it.

A third problem there would be nothing to seat the sattelite in once its in the cargo bay to perform any kind of work,

Mercergl · Post by **Mercergl** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 5:39 pm

Well the navy is saying that the missile took out the fuel tank and any debris would be too small to cause damage on earth