Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit - Gizmodo Comments

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

--Tito-- — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:37:26 EST

@hagrun: Once the communications satellite goes down, it wont be able to redirect calls to other states. Towers go to communications station, station goes to satellite, satellite beams it to another communications station. If that is correct.

--Tito--

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

02 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:11:26 EST

So they are polluting space now????? Ohhh now I know why the world is gonna end..

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

dezeinstein — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:24:30 EST

@Skeptic: you sound... skeptical.

dezeinstein

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

braddo_99 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:50:30 EST

Re: Eclipse pics... Check these out (scroll down to see some cool multiple exposure shots).

[www.fredmiranda.com]

All of these are not mine - mine were all complete garbage.

braddo_99

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Amiash Loves You — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:48:45 EST

there was a LUNAR ECLIPSE??????
WHERE WAS I?

Amiash Loves You

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Way — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:30:29 EST

@demonwolf: Plus the cost of launch, observation, and tracking. The actual total cost? Who knows.

Way

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

demonwolf — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:06:02 EST

so wait it only cost 10 mil then instead of the predicted 50?

demonwolf

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Husher — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:27:28 EST

why didnt hey just go up there and fix it like other people do?
also why did they do this during the lunar eclipse?

Husher

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

hagrun — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:33:59 EST

@--Tito--: That wouldn't be tough considering cell phones communicate via towers on the ground... unless you are using a sat. phone, but I don't think those are considered cell phones.

hagrun

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

strider_mt2k — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:40:25 EST

I'm glad we hit that sat.
Maybe now it'll keep the other ones in line.

The eclipse was great last night.
I hauled a couple of telescopes outside and the seeing was fantastic from our backyard.
We enjoyed it (and Irish coffee) quite a bit.

(Gotta be prepared for this stuff man.)

strider_mt2k

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

soggy_cheerio — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:11:36 EST

@grok666: I agree, 100%.

soggy_cheerio

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Vagabum — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:35:56 EST

Nobody can blow shit up like we can.

Vagabum

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

grok666 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:13:42 EST

Fun comments, but no matter how ya cut it, shooting something moving 17,000 MPH is just freaking COOL!!!

grok666

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

--Tito-- — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:49:44 EST

@Sloth: XD, and global warming and seals blood was killed too!! AREA 51!!!! ROSEWELL!!

--Tito--

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Sloth — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:22:34 EST

It's all a damn Conspiracy! That satellite had first contact with aliens, and they needed to blow it up to get rid of the alien bodies....

Sloth

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

eatmonkeygood — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 03:00:33 EST

operation: destroy evil eclipse demons with toxic gas explosion is a success!! take that evil space monsters!

eatmonkeygood

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Fierock — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:38:34 EST

@AlexEmerald: coincidentally my wife and I also saw a fairly bright shooting star while watching the eclipse, but it was closer to 8:00pm CST (Saskatchewan) closer to the start of the eclipse, and according to the NY Times the missile wan't even launched until 9:30pm our time (8:30 your time), so what I saw must have been an unrelated meteor.

Fierock

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

TonyTriple — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:11:04 EST

anyone else hear 99 Luftballoons playing in the background?

TonyTriple

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

PlasmaMachine — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:08:07 EST

ry_ry: "Lunar pics were a success though"

Hook it up yo!

PlasmaMachine

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

LastVigilante — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:05:15 EST

@superbad: Thats probably totally possible, though this 'computer simulation' video appears to suggest it will remain on the same path, only in fragments: [www.space.com]

I'm sure the chances are less than one percent that anyone will see any re-entry debris (please let me be the one percent!) but I'm often reminded of the footage of the MIR re-entry, the unfortunate Columbia re-entry disaster, and even this little nugget I found on the web which was supposedly a failed Russan Rocket breaking up on re-entry over Colorado, caught by news cameras: [www.myfoxcolorado.com]

LastVigilante

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

superbad — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:42:13 EST

@LastVigilante: "Especially if you were in the projected ground path of the satellite, before being blown to bits. "

I would think that projected path has completely changed now that they've blown the thing up and changed the atmospheric drag and broken up the mass and whatnot.

superbad

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

AlexEmerald — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:40:29 EST

I think I saw it come down.....

Or coincedentally I saw a shooting star at near the exact same time (Hadn't checked the time, but eclipse was nearly through).

This is coming from the big ol' frozen piece of land known as Alberta, Canada.

AlexEmerald

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

superbad — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:40:16 EST

@ry_ry: "I think I saw something frickin moving through the eastern sky from south to north"

Unless you live on a houseboat in the middle of the Pacific, you saw something else.

The eclipse was obscured by hazy clouds here :( although that actually made it easier to see the color change from the red shadow moving across the face, which was kind of interesting. :) Luckily lunar eclipses are not that rare- the next one is in a couple years. The next total solar eclipse visible in the US doesn't happen until 2017.

superbad

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

snakepliskin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:27:47 EST

@TJ: You are very extremely right, they shouldve shot it down with a giant laser for triple bonus points.

snakepliskin

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

TJ — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:23:19 EST

I'm sorry but shooting missiles at friggin satellites beats Crysis (or Doom) any day.

The only thing that could possibly beat it? Shooting friggin laser beams instead.

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

LastVigilante — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:22:05 EST

Did anyone else notice in the stories they say they did it "at about 10:26 p.m. EST" which was about exactly the time for the total lunar exclipse?! Coincidence? I think not.

Also, they say that the majority of the debris will be falling into the atmosphere within the next four days... that sounds like a ripe invitation to head outside and watch for an impromptu meteor-shower-style debris shower over the next few nights. Especially if you were in the projected ground path of the satellite, before being blown to bits.

LastVigilante

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

elmnopo — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:13:41 EST

@GiltProto: best. comment. evar. and ya beat me to it! :P

elmnopo

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

snakepliskin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:08:55 EST

FUCK YEAH AMERICA!! Thats how we roll motherfuckers!! God bring on alien invaders we dont give a fuck we'll torch anybody and anything!!

snakepliskin

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

winexprt — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:03:47 EST

@IUSEAMACSOSUEME:

Books!...fuck yeah??

winexprt

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

GiltProto — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:46:48 EST

I felt a great disturbance in the atmosphere, as if millions of transistors suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something slamtastic has happened.

GiltProto

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Abnormal — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:43:53 EST

Tell Master Chief we ain't going to need him. The flood has been contained.

Abnormal

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Weihovah — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:41:57 EST

i thought they were gonna "accidentally" miss the satellite and end up hitting a russian or chinese one instead

Weihovah

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

LittleJon — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:37:52 EST

@Skeptic: The US had already shot down a satellite. They shot one down with a missile launched from an F-15 some years before China pulled their stunt.

Anyway, this wasn't to do with hyrazine IMO. It was preventing secrets about US spy satellites getting in to the wrong hands. Anyone who thinks the Hubble is the biggest telescope in space is wrong!

LittleJon

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

striggity — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:35:11 EST

yay for blowing up satalites!!

striggity

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Earthslide — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:32:02 EST

New England Patriots = Whew, now everyone can get off our asses!

Earthslide

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

IUSEAMACSOSUEME — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:31:12 EST

America! Fuck Yeah! Baseball! Fuck Yeah! Shooting down spy satellites! Fuck Yeah!

IUSEAMACSOSUEME

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

mariogalaxyman — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:26:05 EST

@Skeptic: Technically China didn't shoot their satellite down, they just blasted it into thousands of pieces of space junk that are still in orbit.

mariogalaxyman

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

--Tito-- — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:25:24 EST

Next we should shoot down our sell phone satellites and tv ones just for fun and live like that one episode of Dilbert where after 5 min of that happening we were back in the Renaissance!

--Tito--

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

NutManIV — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:24:49 EST

@Skeptic:

The china stunt was different. To maintain control the Chinese government pulls nationalistic stunts every now and then. This incident with the US was legitimate. Multiple nations approached the US about this and practically told the US to shoot it down.

NutManIV

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

ry_ry — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:23:47 EST

Crap crap crap...I had my cam out for the eclipse at this time.

What sky was this in? I think I saw something frickin moving through the eastern sky from south to north...but wasn't sure that was it since I thought it was postponed :(

Lunar pics were a success though :D

ry_ry

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Marty200 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:23:28 EST

@Skeptic: Yup... That's the one.

Marty200

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

slingblade — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:22:09 EST

Missed the lunar eclipse. Man. My lifetime is seeing amazing things happen.

@Skeptic: Yea. Another thing to blast out the old RED, WHITE and BLUE.

slingblade

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Skeptic — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:20:33 EST

They still need a day to confirm that the pesky fuel tank was destroyed.

You mean the fuel tank that couldn't have stayed intact through the 50g re-entry? The one that was their flimsy excuse for playing with their satellite shooting missiles so they could be like China and show off that the US can shoot down a satellite.

Skeptic

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

mariogalaxyman — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:17:35 EST

USA! USA! USA!

mariogalaxyman

Operation 'Blow Up a Satellite' Update: We Have a Direct Hit

Katorok — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:15:26 EST

Cool..?

Katorok