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Copyright by John T. Reed

On 2/20/08, the U.S. Navy shot down a U.S. satellite in orbit.

The government said this was necessary because the satellite was going to lose altitude and reenter the earth’s atmosphere.

That happened before to satellites of various countries and nobody tried to prevent it by shooting them down beforehand.

The government said it was afraid that the falling satellite would hurt someone on the ground.

Excuse me.

71% of the earth is covered by water. 40% is covered by crops. The population of the earth is 6.7 billion people. The land surface area is 148,940,000 square kilometers. That is an average population density of 45 people per square kilometer. The precise orbital path and schedule of the satellite is known. The chances of a person being hit are so low that it does not make sense to story to stop it. Broadcasting a global ”heads up” would make more sense.

Furthermore, when an object hits the atmosphere at 18,000 miles per hour, it generally burns up. On 2/1/03, the space shuttle Columbia hit the atmosphere going about that fast and burned up because, at launch, a piece of foam fell and knocked a ceramic heat shield tile off the shuttle.

The satellite we shot down on 2/20/08 had no heat shield at all. It would really burn up upon hitting the atmosphere.

Finally, the government said they were mainly worried about the 1,000 pounds of hydrazine fuel in the satellite injuring someone on the ground.

Say what!?

Hyrdazine is a flammable liquid with about the same freezing and boiling temperatures as water. It also “decomposes energetically into nitrogen and hydrogen” according to Wikipedia. Another Web site says “Hydrazines are highly reactive and easily catch fire” and “Hydrazines easily evaporate to the air, where they are broken down by reactions within minutes or hours” and “Hydrazines can also dissolve in water, where they usually break down into less toxic compounds within a few weeks.” Cigarettes and other tobacco products contain hydrazine.

The temperatures reached by an object falling out of orbit into the atmosphere reach 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Seems like that ought to cause ignition of a liquid that “easily catches fire.” Not to mention causing it to “evaporate” and get “broken down…within minutes or hours.” And if it were to survive all that, and land in water, it will “break down into less toxic compounds within a few weeks.”

Bottom line: I don’t buy it. The government was not afraid of the satellite or its fuel hurting anyone on the ground. Rather, they were showing the other space powers that the Chinese are not the only ones who can shoot down a satellite. (They shot down one of their own in the middle of January, 2008.) In short, the government not only lied to us, they insulted our intelligence and the intelligence of all the people of the world in the process.

I appreciate informed, well-thought-out constructive criticism and suggestions.

John T. Reed