US to risk breaching UN militarised space treaty for a faulty & toxic US Spy Sat.

by gerbil afterburner Thu Feb 21, 2008 09:32

"The United States, the world's top space power, has often accused other countries of vigorously developing military space technology, but faced with the Chinese-Russian proposal to restrict space armaments, it runs in fear from what it claimed to love," - reaction from the Chinese press on th enews that the USA has shot at [not down] one of its satelites at an altitude of 150 miles (247km) while it was travelling at approximately 17,000 miles per hour at 3.26am GMT.

How the US militarisation of Space is being reported :-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/feb/21/spaceexpl...n.usa
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/us/21satellite.html?_...login
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7254540.stm

__________________________________________

"new arms race"

....."The US criticised the Chinese when they carried out an anti-satellite test just over a year ago.
Its complaint was that it was a deliberate military move, and that it was shrouded in secrecy. Now, the Americans have used a weapons system that is part of their missile defence programme. Whatever the result, the operation was always going to yield valuable information, both in terms of missile defence and possible future anti-satellite operations. It has not helped the US's public relations cause that the Bush administration opposes a Russian-Chinese draft treaty to ban weapons in space - although many experts see the proposal as flawed, and point out that the US is probably more reliant on the use of satellites than any other country. Washington says it is in favour of the free use of space, but against limiting its military options. Both Washington and Moscow experimented with anti-satellite weapons in the Cold War, and the US shot down a satellite in a test 22 years ago......."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7256218.stm

by gerbil afterburner Tue Feb 19, 2008 14:46

Slashdot has reported ""Amateur satellite watcher Ted Molczan notes that a "Notice to Airmen" (NOTAM) has been issued announcing restricted airspace for February 21, between 02:30 and 05:00 UTC, in a region near Hawaii."
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/19/018...m=rss

The Russians have by now declared pretty much the same thing I suggested in the article above. = "they are practising anti-sat weaponry".

An interesting blog (the Federation of American Scientists strategic security)has joined the fray insisting quite logically that you can't shoot down a satelite. You shoot at it, as it moves around you in orbit, and then whatever llittle bits your missle make of it - continue to move around you in orbit....
Very sensible.

http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2008/02/us_plans_test_of_an...t.php

by gerbil afterburner Sat Feb 16, 2008 16:13

there is a thread on the shooting down of "bird" at the "space politics" site, a US group who honestly fall well short of reflecting the range of issues & concerns we ought have about "up there". But that said, in the vacuum which is serious monitoring & observation of the space industry (mostly militarised aeronautics but including biotech & nanotech & anyone whose experiments are favoured by zero-grav.) the thread might prove interesting. The connection with the PRC test/demo is being felt over in the states - but that's their psychological problem, & always has been - no other state has ever even dreamt of considering near orbit or more ludicrously beyond the Van Halen belts to Lunar orbit as either spheres of influence or worth cranking up geopolitical tensions. I'd be honest with ye all, (even sceptic the real one & the vulgarisms using fans he brings out & encourages) - The "powers" have messed up space exploration in an extraordinary short time in much the same way they've messed up the environment on the ground in 2 centuries. There's too much garbage up there, been too many lies about what has been achieved, & in the next 40 years anyone who can copy Branson's Virgin Galactic design http://www.virgingalactic.com/ can deliver WMD anywhere on the planet with a very short window of prevention rivalling the old traditional ICBM four minutes. I'd say we're finally entering the moonraker baddie generation. ............Sinister............

http://www.spacepolitics.com/2008/02/14/what-um-impact-...bate/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/13/us_spy_satellit...down/

Best coverage is from Wired.com
....."The SM-3 missile that's supposed to do the job is at the heart of the most successful component of the American missile-defense program; unlike other, less reliable interceptors, the SM-3 has hit its targets in 11 of its last 13 tests. Two other Aegis cruisers, armed with similar weapons, will be on standby, in case the initial SM-3 fails to fire, or misses its target......"
(those results were widely regarded as massaged to boot)
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/some-time-in-th.html

Over there they've also had a look at Obama's space program potential & at the same time that HMG UK is considering ending its ban on manned flight (no Brits are supposed to go to outerspace) it appears NASA under Obama might end humans in space. He did that in contrast to Clinton who is well into the propaganda value of having humans in space despite the sucess rate of getting them there & back being somewhat tarnished during the Bush years. Obama is quoted as saying he wishes to consider "a practical sense of what investments deliver the most scientific and technological spinoffs — and not just assume that human space exploration, actually sending bodies into space, is always the best investment.” http://www.spacepolitics.com/2008/02/16/obama-human-spa...ment/

Most of "capitalist" space is in fact lobbied by three billionaires, the most interesting is a woman. I'll tell you about her again.

by PutinCharge Sat Feb 16, 2008 13:04

Its like a knee jerk(!) response whenever putin or russia are mentioned.
just goes to show how effective just repeating a lie over and over is.
maybe folks need to read a little more and stop watching fox news!

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060710/cohen

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/HJ25Ag01.html

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney12052007.html

Welcome to the new US approved cold war folks.

by Sceptic Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:44

Quite right - I am the real Sceptic and someone is using my name. And I don't use vulgarism.

by Anti-sceptic Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:35

our very own neo-con apologist "sceptic" would never say "cock". I reckon it's not him iosaf!!

by gerbil afterburner Sat Feb 16, 2008 00:29

The only space capable state which has proven the ability to shoot down, disable or take out satelites is of course the PRC. They demonstrated it last year & immediately asked for a new Space Militarisation Treaty just afterwards.

that was reported on this site here
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/81711?condense_comments...=true
& on the excellent "space politics" site here -
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2007/01/31/does-china-want...eaty/
that was taken up by the Russians and again this week http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7240796.stm OF course I was pitching the article at the low brows when I mentioned star-wars - because quite simply this is not star-wars technology being tested - it's merely the diplomatic problems.

___________________________

According to CNN the US Navy are going to shoot down "bird" with a specially modified missile. Sounds wonderful. In fact it might give us a clue as to where they plan on splashing it down if not which agency was operating it in the first place ( if we continue the given version that it was just a spy-sat with an unused hydrazine cell on board). Just in case you're as dim as Sceptic - the most probably shooting orbit will be over the Pacific ocean aimed at ditching any break-up waste west of Chile & Peru. Standard drop zone for space debris which led some people to ponder the "peruvian mystery illness" the report on which you may enjoy by scrolling up to the screen & reading the only other article I've ever written. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/02/14/spy.satell...e.ap/
But at least I've written one.

by Skeptic Fri Feb 15, 2008 15:19

The US government are relishing this opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Son of Star Wars technology program which was restarted by George W. Bush in early 2001 not long before there was a stand off between US and China over a collision between a Navy spyplane and a Chinese fighter which resulted in the death of the Chinese pilot and the detention of the crew on Hainan island.
Russia and China are the obvious nuclear foes of the US. Putin continues to make rattle his nuclear sabre, mainly to demonstrate his macho bravado combined with his barechested Right Said Fred antics. Meanwhile China's "Haven't I Got An Olypmic Sized Cock" routine and the modernisation of its military continues.

by tomeile Fri Feb 15, 2008 14:38

Today’s Irish Independent features this story under the rather ambiguous headline:

"US missile to blast satellite out of the sky over Ireland"

Which implies that it's going to be shot down while orbiting over Ireland .

But the body of article doesn't suggest that - rather that the satellite ,which is going to be shot down , sometimes passes over Ireland.

"Pentagon officials have announced plans to shoot down a failing spy satellite orbiting over Ireland with a missile from a US navy warship to prevent debris from showering the Earth."

The IAWM should ask for clarification on this .
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/north-america/us-m....html

by those Fri Feb 15, 2008 00:18

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrazin
2001, Microbiologist Marc Strous from the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands discovered that hydrazine is produced from some yeasts, and the open ocean bacterium anammox (Brocadia anammoxidans). They are the only discovered organisms to naturally produce hydrazine. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1109_05....html
If you'd like to buy Hydrazin fuel or want to culture "Candidatus Brocadia anammoxidans" (the first discovered organism capable of the anaerobic oxidation of ammonium) the only bacteria known to man which produces both rocket fuel & eats sewage (it's true - believe it or not)
you should really go to the popular http://www.eBay.com site. There's a site for everyone. It's a huge internet. But in all honesty you won't get to buy either. Michael O'Leary would be doing budget Virgin galactic rip-offs and you'd have no cryptosporidium in your water supply if you really were on the cutting edge of now test-failed new-technologies. All I regret is how much fucking damage all this cock-sured hubris & paranoia does to the planet I live on.