Saturday, February 16, 2008

What goes up.....










It sounds like something right out of a sci fi movie, but this is real life.



It seems that a satellite the size of a school bus is about to come crashing down on us any day now. Oh, and let's not forget to throw in some shit called toxic hydrazine which this bad boy happens to be carrying a full tank of for good measure.


Add these things all together and it makes for one dangerous reentry. The scary thing is that our government has no idea where this little piece of monstrosity will land. Oh, did I mention that it's a spy satellite? Yep, it seems this bad boy was sent up by good old Uncle Sam to spy on our enemies. It's called US 193 and they sent it up there back in 2006. Unfortunately, it was acting up from the jump, and we never really got anything out of it. Now I am not as pissed off about it as this blogger, but I do think someone has some "splaining" to do.



This bad boy has folks so worried, that at the urging of the Pentagon, the frat boy has actually ordered the U.S. Navy to blow that sucker right out of space. Three Naval warships will shoot S- M-3 ballistic missile defence interceptor rockets (whatever the hell that is) right at it. Not since parts of the "Sky Lab" fell in the Indian Ocean and parts of Australia, have we had this kind of close encounters with our man made objects that we send to space.



Now the frat boy and the folks at Homeland Security swear up and down that the reason they are doing this is to protect us from the school bus falling to earth, and the deadly fuel that it's carrying. Don't believe it. The real reason they are willing to shoot it down is because it is carrying some secret technology that they are afraid will fall into the wrong hands. It has nothing to do with protecting us. If it did, it would be a first. "Our assessment is that [the satellite] wouldn't be high intel value..the hydrazine is the only reason we are taking extraordinary measures." Yeah right General. And I have an antique bell with slight a crack in it right here in Philly that I would like to sell you. Give me a break!


But you want to know what's really scary? Guess who would be cleaning up if the satellite hits us here in A-merry-ca? If you guessed FEMA please move to the head of the class.


FEMA. I feel better already.

39 comments:

The Roving Reporter said...

sigh FEMA.

FEMA couldn't even handle the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I shutter to think how it would handle the "school bus" crash.

Is it even fair to ask an incompetent, inept bureaucracy to take on such a daunting task?

Jose Vilson said...

No Sean Connery or Daniel Craig hi-tech weaponry? Damn. That's wack, FN.

And if that satellite lands in the hood, best believe there'll be reporters all over it saying gangsters looted the satellite of its parts, nevermind the toxic fumes it'll leave all over the hood. :-X

ZACK said...

Well, I'm a man of faith. So I go by the saying of:

If you are going to worry, you shouldn't pray.

If you are going to pray, you shouldn't worry.

I choose prayer.

Anonymous said...

Eh, You're probably right Field. But hydrazine is pretty nasty stuff.It could wipe out anything if it landed it water.

Anonymous said...

I'm more scared of living in those FEMA trailers than that satellite dropping on my head.

Knowing Frat Boy, those missiles will probably "malfunction" and head toward Iran.

Anonymous said...

Close, but probably not the truth.

Washington needs a cover story for testing their anti-satellite missile system, and this "errant spy satellite" is it.

Remember last year when China destroyed a satellite in orbit? Well this is the response.

If the Pentagon blatantly shot a satellite out of space without this political cover, they'd have to face accusations of fueling an arms race in space. This at least gives them some plausible deniability.

Russia has called them on this already.

Anonymous said...

What was the cost to taxpayers for this eye in the sky?

I think when it comes down, I'll spend sometime on a good, useless cry.

As millions of our dollars go up in fire, I'll be wondering if the situation was so dire, that we needed it there in the first place, in this crowded arms race.

I know those who made it laughed all the way to their banks, and won't be tearing up when I shed my tear, but will continue to give thanks that there's a lot of money in hawking fear.

Anonymous said...

"What was the cost to taxpayers for this eye in the sky?"
600 million to put it, it failed and it's gonna cost 60 million to shoot it down.
Your tax dollars at work.

Anyway, I betcha NASA or DIA/NAVY did their orbital calcs and probably saw this thing was gonna hit...Bush's Crawford ranch! That's the REAL reason why Bush personally ordered to shoot it down; can't have another foul up land smack dab on the property.

Christopher said...

I personally hope the errant satellite lands on right on top of Bush's Crawford, TX ranch while he's in residence.

BAM, SQUISH, SPLAT

Does that make me a bad person???

Anonymous said...

lol @ christopher.

hmmm, i was thinking of the same sh*t. if that does happen, wonders who gonna shed tears...

bam,squish, splat.... i likes how that sounds...lol.

Steve said...

I saw some emails on the Internet Tubes that 30 grams of plutonium is the real payload danger...

Mac Daddy Tribute Blog said...

Christopher said:
" personally hope the errant satellite lands on right on top of Bush's Crawford, TX ranch while he's in residence."
------------------
Christopher: If it lands on top of Bush's Crawford ranch, I want Vice President Cheney there.

And, field, you may be right. The frat boy may want to make sure US secrets don't get into the wrong hands. But I just read a book by the Canadian economist Naomi Klein, who also writes for The Nation magazine. She says corporate America, with the help of the frat boy, who is more of a corporate middle man than US president, takes advantage of all tragedies, emergencies or catastrophies to make a financial killing. So I think a military contractor and buddy of the frat boy got him to agree to a fat contract to shoot down that bad boy at our expesne--- for security reasons of course.

field, I tell you: Between paying for bombs and warplanes and crap in space, we US taxpayers have become the biggest suckers of a nation with the biggest federal deficit ever.

field negro said...

"Does that make me a bad person???"


No chris it does not...I think.

"bam,squish, splat.... i likes how that sounds...lol.

Now that shy giraffe on the other hand...she is mean :)

And LOL at agentx, and their take on the situation. :)

"And if that satellite lands in the hood, best believe there'll be reporters all over it saying gangsters looted the satellite of its parts, nevermind the toxic fumes it'll leave all over the hood. :-X"

Jose, does it have tires? I think they would be gone in an hour or so. But seriously, you know FEMA would be nowhere around.

anon.2:48AM.Honestly,I have no idea what that stuff is. Maybe if I did I wouldn't be so cynical. Can someone tell me what this s**t does?

shonufded, as far as costs, we should be thinking in the billions I am sure.

Anonymous said...

Maybe this sat has the proof of spying on 'Merricans and it's not pretty. Wouldn't you shoot down the evidence that would put you and Cheney behind bars for life?

-Mold

Christopher said...

Since we're all friends here, then I will share my fantasy.

All of the Bush junta would be at the Crawford pig farm: the Mofo from Midland, Darth Vadar, Condosleaza, Turd Blossom, Rummy the Dummy, Gonzo, and Mukasey, when the satellite hits.

The world would be a better place, IMHO.

Christopher Chambers said...

Bruh, there's all this intrigue re: possible "missile defense" nonsense, but when has the Bush Admins. ever given a crap about intimidating the Chinese? Dubya floats our govt on a sea of cheap Chinese money, our businesspeople kowtow and cheese to the Chinese, and until recently even Hollywood liberals have sniffed the cash; per my blog Speilberg has JUST decided to back out of the Olympics--DARFUR looms its head.

Here in DC the info the Bushies are leaking is that hey, we can shoot down missiles. The insiders say yes, it's all bullcrap.

So we have a lot of insidious issues here long before we get to FEMA and cost...

MartiniCocoa said...

everytime i read about something else the Frat Boy president has screwed up, I know him and all his cronies are making money from the screw up, the aftermath of the screw up and the supposed fixing of the screw up.

i'm so sick of him.

Christopher...I agree with you
Ideally I would like the satellite to first fall at the Ranch, then at Cheney's ranch with Liz, Dick and Mary in residence and then if it could find its way to the hovel where Karl Rove resides and since

I'm still pissed at all the people who voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004, maybe they could get a little taste of it too.

LittleMissSolo said...

I love conspiracy theories - and while listening to NPR on Friday morning, I heard this here story.

The first thought that came to mind was "That satellite must have some very incriminating information on it for them to shoot it out the sky!"

The Wiki entry for Hydrazine felt made me feel like I was in a Honors AP super-intense Chemistry class my Senior year at Harvard - (aka, it didn't make a bit of sense to me). So, here is a more straight forward explanation.


Hydrazine 101:
Hydrazines are colorless liquids that are used in rocket fuels, chemical manufacturing, and as boiler water treatments. Exposure to hydrazines may cause nervous system effects, as well as liver and kidney damage. Hydrazines have been found in at least 8 of the 1,416 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).


More info at www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts100.html

Anonymous said...

FEMA has actually dramatically changed the way in which the NIMS ICS system has been implemented since Katrina. In both the Ca urban/wildfires and the tornado in Greensburg Ks last year the system worked more or less smoothly without many complaints. Having worked in volunteer EMS at Katrina (though I know it's not as good a viewpoint as say, an office job in Philly) I can tell you the state of Louisiana is who primarily dropped the ball there. The NIMs system thankfully has been taken out of the hands of elected officials and politicians in the last three years and into the hands of people who've had disaster experiance.

field negro said...

i am not star jones, how are you my child?

404kim, thanks for the info. I still don't know s**t but it helped a little.

smokeybear, I get it. I know I am not as qualified as you are to call FEMA on their f**k ups, but man it just seems like Katrina exposed a lot of mismanagement especially at the top.

And I lived in "the boot". In a way it's my adopted home state, so I know all about how the government can work there at times. Combine that with FEMA, and you could have some issues.

SANKOFA said...

That chemical aboard the satellite is used for cloud seeding and in my opinion that Satellite is/was suppose to used to control weather.
If it is blown up in the atmosphere, we can look forward to some bad weather around the world.

Anonymous said...

~
This may be a obfuscated reason to test readiness, and new and advanced systems; after all it has been over 20 years:

... The United States and the Soviet Union tested anti-satellite technology in the 1980s, and the United States shot down one of its orbiting satellites in 1985. Partially as a result of the debris problem, both sides stopped the programs.
...
The U.S. military is especially dependent on satellites for navigation, communications and missile guidance, while the American economy could also be broadly damaged by disruptions of communications, weather and other satellites. Some in the administration believe that this has left the nation especially vulnerable to attack and have proposed efforts to develop ways to defend its assets in space.
...
The United States retains the ability to destroy low-orbit satellites and has been conducting research on more advanced systems for years.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wpdyn/content/article/2007/01/
18/AR2007011801029.html


If it is confirmed, China will become the third country after the United States and the former Soviet Union to shoot down an object in space, indicating the Asian power could target satellites operated by other nations.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/19/wchina19.xml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6289519.stm

`

Jonne Austin said...

Christopher said...
I personally hope the errant satellite lands on right on top of Bush's Crawford, TX ranch while he's in residence.

BAM, SQUISH, SPLAT

Does that make me a bad person???
================================
LOL no it makes you one of the many people who have hope something "good" will finally come to us while this bastard is in office.

LittleMissSolo said...

Field - what exactly did Fiddy say about Obama? I see the remarks on your sidebar...


And, for future reference, if we have comments/questions regarding post to the side bar, shall we do so here?
Just wondering...


-k

Anonymous said...

The techno wargeeks over at Noah Shachtman's Danger Room have been posting on this extensively. Their general conclusion, after talking to experts in the biz, is that the reasons given by the Administration are bogus (no surprise there). Among the speculations for the real reasons is that the powers-that-be want to try the same thing the Chinese successfully did relatively recently - and which we criticized extensively, for all the dangerous debris* left in lower orbit as a result of the resulting explosion (*dangerous to future space missions).

Steve-MD/DC

La♥audiobooks said...

"The real reason they are willing to shoot it down is because it is carrying some secret technology that they are afraid will fall into the wrong hands. It has nothing to do with protecting us."


Good point. Even so when I heard they were going to "shoot it down", I wondered if that was any better (does that mean the shattered pieces will disintegrate, float in space forever, or what). Let's see, now we have to worry about millions of pieces shooting from orbit and landing where?

Someone told me they have the "technology" to "direct" the pieces to land where they want it to on earth. Well, they can't land the million pieces on just anybody's national soil or waters (that's war talk), so they might to have to "direct" the landing(s) close to, or on US regions. Now, where would those inconsequential US areas be? I think the Katrina survivors better keep a visual on this, or perhaps all the Democratic states. If you ask me.

I'm such a conspiracy theorist, I know.

Blinders Off said...

404Kim

check out this link to hear it straight from Fiddy mouth.

Anonymous said...

I think you guys are overreacting a bit.

First off I have not heard anyone talk about how little of the land on earth people live on.

About 70% of the earth is water.

So 30% is land. Of that land, humans live on 60% of that to varying degrees of density.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth#Human_geography

So we live on 18% of the total planet. Obviously some areas of the earth are less densely populated than the others. Not many folks live in Rain forest or Deserts. Not many folks live in Artic Tundra or Anartica.

This thing is the size of a bus in space, but reality is most of that mass will break up on reentry. Still something the size of a penny hitting you in the head at that rate of speed, white hot will kill you but the chance of that happening is so low you have a better chance of hitting the lottery or being killed in a car accident.

To my knowledge (I looked into this today) the last such satellite that actually hit something in a populated area hit Cuba and killed a cow...or injured it to the point that it had to be put down.

That's it.

I think she should slow our roll a little bit here.

field negro said...

404kim, you can comment on the stuff on the side bar anywhere on the fron page that you want to. I always read the comments on the front page posts.

To answer your question: He is supporting Hillary. No harm there. But he basically said that if we support Obama and he wins we are putting him out there to get shot. That was a dumb ass statement!
(I think blinders off has a You Tube link)


dragon horse, I agree that the chance of this satellie hitting anyone is remote, but I don't think that was the point. -At least it wasn't mine-. I am more concerned with the need to shoot it down in the first place. I think that's what concerns most other people as well.

Bob said...

These things we know: The satellite is a shoddy piece of shit. It's too secret to risk any part of it staying intact. It has poisonous fuel. Cheney loves shooting at stuff. Bush loves blowing stuff up (as opposed to Bill Clinton, who more sensibly loved getting his stuff blown).

Steve said...

This web site has more info.

Christopher Chambers said...

The Chinese have likely stolen the technology anyway...or our greedy companies--headed by people who are quick to label others as dirty whiners or America-haters--sold it to them.

Anonymous said...

The Danger room makes a big point; they wanna show off their toys; since it can't be just about public safety.

though let it be known that if the missile misses the satellite, and it crashes down on land, you can best believe that someone will be selling chunks of it on EBay within 1 hour of the crash.

Anonymous said...

Field: as one field cane cutter to another... your site has me rolling on every visit...New Black Women..sistah that is a satellite the size of a yellow school bus but speeding and coming in at about 2000 miles an hour...imagine being in a plane flying over who knows where and a piece of this thing clips your wing or something...

let's get tyra off the sidebar... messing wit my concentration...vixen she be...move the jigging must stop up to the top please...and who is larry johnson..and what foole would pay 300K for a timepiece to know when sun up and when sun down..get a dang gone rooster...

Anonymous said...

I still think this is a "smoking gun" that the Bushies need to get rid of. Think Soprano, not Dr Evil.


Mold

[flahy] [blak] [chik] said...

I miss my days working at NSA..lol

Anonymous said...

Field:

If the Chinese can shoot down a satellite, we can shoot this down, our tech is still quite a bit ahead of theres. We can shoot down intercontinental ballistic missiles that are moving over mach 2. I'm pretty sure we can hit a satellite given 2 or 3 chances.

I understand your point. I agree they should have had a plan to detonate it before it even launched. It is quite reckless.

MartiniCocoa said...

Hey Field...
I'm cool ... completely tired of seeing Bush's face and hearing/reading anything he has to say.

I have MAJOR Bush fatigue. And I guess I already have McCain fatigue too.

Who does that creepy old man think he's fooling? Hugging up on the father of the man who pulled every dirty campaign trick on him.
ICK!

Keep up the good work ... your posts and sidebar commentaries are helping me survive the last year of W.

Anonymous said...

1. This is about keeping the technology out of the hands of Russia, China, and a few others. Yes, they have high tech spysats, but ours are better... at least for now.

2. This is also about letting it be known that we do indeed have missile intercept capability... that message isn't necessarily for the RUssians or the Chinese considering the recent remarks of Lt. General Maples, who heads the Defense intelligence agency.

3. Weather control? Hydrazine is a fuel. Spysats carry lots of fuel so that they can be repositioned at need.