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At a combined speed of 22,000 mph. Without an explosive warhead. And thus far, no known debris larger than a football. Excellent shoooting! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080221/ap_ ... _satellite

Yeah, they saw an explosion and are pretty sure they see a vapor cloud, so sounds like the hydrazine tank exploded. I still wonder how much of this was just an opportunity to try their SBM out vs. really concern about the tank not burining up.

I went to lunch with a friend yesterday and told him if the missles missed I wanted to get his Sharps out and try to hit it!!

Keith B wrote:Yeah, they saw an explosion and are pretty sure they see a vapor cloud, so sounds like the hydrazine tank exploded. I still wonder how much of this was just an opportunity to try their SBM out vs. really concern about the tank not burining up.

I'd say it was about 50-50.

And unlike Michelle Obama, this is one of the many thousands of times in my adult life that I have been proud of my country.

It's even more impressive that we hit a sattelite travelling at around 20,000 mph or so. This is much faster than an ICBM. So if we can hit a sattelite with this system, it follows that hitting a much slower ICBM is a piece of cake.

Strategically, this is geat for us as it "encourages" countries like South Korea, Japan, and even our erstwhile "allies" in Old Europe, (not to mention our more "real" allies in New Europe) to support us more strongly. Being sea-based, the protective umbrella afforded by this system can go where we want it to go without asking anyone's permission.

Now that we have the capability to set up a picket line of Aegis crusiers, it follows that we should budget to build more of them, along with the hunter-killer subs needed to protect them.

And somehow, I don't think that Michelle or Barack have that very high on their list of priorities.

and just think, It only cost a little over 70 million dollars to shoot 1 satellite that cost taxpayers a little over a billion dollars.

Hitting a bullet with a bullet. What a shot! This should send some worries the way of other countries that have spy satellites.

You may have seen where there was some talk about a possible delay in the attempt due to high seas. Jay Leno played upon that and speculation about "sending a message to North Korea". Afraid the message might be that we could only hit their missles during good weather. His line - not mine.

Keith B wrote:I still wonder how much of this was just an opportunity to try their SBM out vs. really concern about the tank not burining up.

China and Russia are howling that this was an "illegal" test of our missile defense system. A spokesman (preferably the president himself) should have pointed out that with their landmass they were in more danger from the hydrazine than we were, and if they wanted to take a shot first, they would be welcome to do so.

I think the success of this mission is being carefully evaluated in Moscow, Beijing, and Pyongyang. (Not to mention New Dehli and Islamabad.)

KBCraig wrote:China and Russia are howling that this was an "illegal" test of our missile defense system.

Never mind that, just a few short months ago, the Chinese destroyed one of their own missiles - exactly the same way - in an orbital plane inhabited by the satellites of many nations, and resulting in a cloud of orbiting fragments that put the rest of those satellites at risk for the next umpty-ump years. And they did it for no other reason than to test their systems.

Buncha hypocrites, that China.

The Annoyed Man wrote:

KBCraig wrote:China and Russia are howling that this was an "illegal" test of our missile defense system.

Never mind that, just a few short months ago, the Chinese destroyed one of their own missiles - exactly the same way - in an orbital plane inhabited by the satellites of many nations, and resulting in a cloud of orbiting fragments that put the rest of those satellites at risk for the next umpty-ump years. And they did it for no other reason than to test their systems.

Buncha hypocrites, that China.

你讲真�

The Annoyed Man wrote:

KBCraig wrote:China and Russia are howling that this was an "illegal" test of our missile defense system.

Never mind that, just a few short months ago, the Chinese destroyed one of their own missiles - exactly the same way - in an orbital plane inhabited by the satellites of many nations, and resulting in a cloud of orbiting fragments that put the rest of those satellites at risk for the next umpty-ump years. And they did it for no other reason than to test their systems.

Buncha hypocrites, that China.

Im sure they are saying the same thing about us. We cried foul when they shot theirs only to shoot our own so soon after.

KBCraig wrote:China and Russia are howling that this was an "illegal" test of our missile defense system.

China just killed one of their own satellites last year in a test.

So, why is this a problem for us to do a little testing???

Some people are upset at Bush for going to war and being mean to our enemies.
I'm upset at him for not being mean enough! In many cases, he's chicken!
But, I'm proud of him for at least trying.

If I were Prez, I'd take this opportunity to public state that "our satellite killing system is up and running and is now on standby to take out any vehicle deemed to be a threat to the United States"

tallmike wrote:Im sure they are saying the same thing about us. We cried foul when they shot theirs only to shoot our own so soon after.

In the military world, we have no choice but to beat or exceed everything China does.
They are our biggest enemies now, and if we don't counter them we'll all be eating Kung Pow Chicken!

tallmike wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:

KBCraig wrote:China and Russia are howling that this was an "illegal" test of our missile defense system.

Never mind that, just a few short months ago, the Chinese destroyed one of their own missiles - exactly the same way - in an orbital plane inhabited by the satellites of many nations, and resulting in a cloud of orbiting fragments that put the rest of those satellites at risk for the next umpty-ump years. And they did it for no other reason than to test their systems.

Buncha hypocrites, that China.

Im sure they are saying the same thing about us. We cried foul when they shot theirs only to shoot our own so soon after.

The problem we had with them is they took out a satellite in geosynchronous orbit that left debris in the field that other satellites reside. It poses a threat to interfere with or potentially damage the others.

Video of missile impact:

http://videos.mcclatchydc.com/vmix_host ... eo/1730425

frankie_the_yankee wrote:It's even more impressive that we hit a sattelite travelling at around 20,000 mph or so. This is much faster than an ICBM. So if we can hit a sattelite with this system, it follows that hitting a much slower ICBM is a piece of cake.

It is impressive that we hit the satellite, but hitting an ICBM is never a piece of cake. Remember, in this case, they had days to plan and calculate trajectory. Also a 99% success rate for shooting down ICBMs isn't good enough. That means one out of a hundred nukes hits the target.

We are getting better and with more research, engineering and testing we will continue to improve. This test is just one of many to show that a good missile defense is feasible.

flintknapper wrote:
你讲真�

nii hau to you too, Flint.