Suitably Flip

Great Shot Kid, That Was One In a Million

I know my learned co-blogger and resident satellite expert wasn't in favor of this move, but this is still very exciting in a knuckle-dragging, boom-stick wielding, big hairy American winning machine kind of way (i.e. the best way).

A U.S. Navy cruiser blasted a disabled spy satellite with a pinpoint missile strike that achieved the main mission of exploding a tank of toxic fuel 130 miles above the Pacific Ocean, defense officials said.

Destroying the satellite's onboard tank of about 1,000 pounds of hydrazine fuel was the primary goal, and a senior defense official close to the mission said Thursday that it appears the tank was destroyed, and the strike with a specially designed missile was a complete success.

One of the problems Gindu had with it was the possibility that we'd miss and look like chumps, so at least we're safe on that one.  Another point he made, though, was that other countries that we chastise for carrying out unannounced (and therefore qualitatively different) and extremely messy anti-satellite tests would wax indignant.  Which, of course, they are.

China called on the United States Thursday to provide information about its shooting down of a defunct US spy satellite and voiced caution about the potential international impact of the operation.

"China is continuing to closely follow the possible harm caused by the US action to outer space security and relevant countries," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said when asked for a reaction to the shootdown.

"China further requests that the US fulfil (sic) its international obligations in earnest and promptly provide to the international community the necessary information and relevant data... so that relevant countries can take precautions."

Imagine their reaction if we'd done nothing and some unsuspecting folks in China (or in similarly grousing Russia, the two of which combine to form 15% of the global land mass) wound up on the business end of a hydrazine rain shower.

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Great Shot Kid, That Was One In a Million

I know my learned co-blogger and resident satellite expert wasn't in favor of this move, but this is still very exciting in a knuckle-dragging, boom-stick wielding, big hairy American winning machine kind of way (i.e. the best way).

A U.S. Navy cruiser blasted a disabled spy satellite with a pinpoint missile strike that achieved the main mission of exploding a tank of toxic fuel 130 miles above the Pacific Ocean, defense officials said.

Destroying the satellite's onboard tank of about 1,000 pounds of hydrazine fuel was the primary goal, and a senior defense official close to the mission said Thursday that it appears the tank was destroyed, and the strike with a specially designed missile was a complete success.

One of the problems Gindu had with it was the possibility that we'd miss and look like chumps, so at least we're safe on that one.  Another point he made, though, was that other countries that we chastise for carrying out unannounced (and therefore qualitatively different) and extremely messy anti-satellite tests would wax indignant.  Which, of course, they are.

China called on the United States Thursday to provide information about its shooting down of a defunct US spy satellite and voiced caution about the potential international impact of the operation.

"China is continuing to closely follow the possible harm caused by the US action to outer space security and relevant countries," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said when asked for a reaction to the shootdown.

"China further requests that the US fulfil (sic) its international obligations in earnest and promptly provide to the international community the necessary information and relevant data... so that relevant countries can take precautions."

Imagine their reaction if we'd done nothing and some unsuspecting folks in China (or in similarly grousing Russia, the two of which combine to form 15% of the global land mass) wound up on the business end of a hydrazine rain shower.