Comments on: Satellite may hit earth

By: Sam Wise

Sam Wise — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:03:43 +0000

Flaky,”If the satellite is a potential threat, why not use the shuttle to bring it down?”For a couple of reasons:1) It isn’t really a potential threat, it’s highly unlikely to do any damage at all.2) Shuttle missions take lots and LOTS of planning. You’d need at least a year starting from scratch. Meanwhile this satellite is coming down within a month or two.3) The satellite’s too low to safely conduct a shuttle mission at.4) Since the satellite is out of control, you couldn’t get a shuttle safely near it (you’d more likely collide with the thing).5) A shuttle mission wouldn’t cost “a few millions,” it’s closer to a billion dollars.Sam

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:20:24 +0000

Somewhere I read that this should not have happened because the software problem should have been discovered on the ground before launch.This is largely speculation, but yes, without confirmation I would not absolutely assume it was a software problem. BUt that is what people who are talking about this seem to think.

By: Dave Briggs

Dave Briggs — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:23:48 +0000

Uh oh! I am going to get my umbrella out just in case! LOL! I have heard that if we were to have a real bad CME, ( coronal mass ejection), from the sun we could end up with a bunch of satellites laying around on earth. Isn’t there some sort of super glue or something they can use to keep them up there? LOL!Dave Briggs :~)

By: Flaky

Flaky — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:05:48 +0000

It didn’t say in the link that there was a software problem, only that the computer had rebooted itself several times. It could very well be a hardware problem. If the satellite is a potential threat, why not use the shuttle to bring it down? A few millions for an extra shuttle mission is nothing from the 600 billion USA defence budget.