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When Satellites Fall (Intentionally Or Otherwise)

think that telecomms companies might have just invented a deniable Precision-Guided Munition
Unlikely. They'd surely be more inclined towards a directed-energy beam, or an EM pulse weapon. The likes of Sir Richard Brandswap, I couldn't see him riding a guided iron boombe down onto the target (apologies, I emitted an unexpected Inspector Clouseau, just neauw). Maybe BT would stretch to firing god-rods (if Openreach are allowed to use kinetic weapons, following the deregulation back in '84. I do know they are allowed to Speak Sternly, and Send Letters, so catapulting tungsten carbide rods is not too far from those existing sanctions)

Intrigung ultra-honest accidental comment in your Wikipedia reference:
The advent of precision-guided munitions resulted in the renaming of older bombs "unguided bombs", "dumb bombs", or "iron bombs".
...I reckon they meant to add an important "as", in there (otherwise, they're talking in a very untargetted way).
 
Swap your tinfoil hats for hardhats it's coming!

Debris from a defunct Chinese space station could crash to Earth as early as Friday, scientists monitoring it say.

The Tiangong-1 was part of China's ambitious space programme, and the prototype for a manned station in 2022.

It was put into orbit in 2011 and five years later completed its mission, after which it was expected to fall back to Earth.

Time and place of impact are hard to predict as it is no longer controlled.

The latest estimate for re-entry is between 30 March and 2 April.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-43551144
 
Really irresponsible of them to negligently leave it to fall anywhere it likes.
Hope it doesn't fall anywhere populated.
 
Really irresponsible of them to negligently leave it to fall anywhere it likes.
Hope it doesn't fall anywhere populated.

What could realistically be done to stop it falling? It could possibly be hit with a missile once it's entered the atmosphere but that would break it up into more pieces which may or may not be a good thing..
 
What could realistically be done to stop it falling? It could possibly be hit with a missile once it's entered the atmosphere but that would break it up into more pieces which may or may not be a good thing..
If they'd planned ahead, they could have equipped it with enough fuel and the right kind of engines to keep it up there or send it down to Earth under control.
 
If they'd planned ahead, they could have equipped it with enough fuel and the right kind of engines to keep it up there or send it down to Earth under control.
Yeah, that all sounds straightforward enough. It's hardly rocket sci... Oh.

Anyway, the following purports to be a live feed of the space station's final hours, courtesy of the virtual telescope project:

 
If they'd planned ahead, they could have equipped it with enough fuel and the right kind of engines to keep it up there or send it down to Earth under control.

I dunno, I'm assuming something's gone wrong with it. In that case there's probably nothing to be done..
 
Does anyone know how China compensates for the lack of its own DSN for connectivity/comms in connection with its own space programme?

Please don't tell me that they book bandwidth from NASA.

In fact.....how does Russia do that, too? For full 24hr globe rotational coverage? Unless the Australians happily host dishes for everyone

I question everything, apologies. But I do think it's a fair point. A (relative) lack of global reach equates to lack of global sateĺlite ground station sites.
 
I dunno, I'm assuming something's gone wrong with it. In that case there's probably nothing to be done..
The BBC article says they lost control of it a few years ago, so they can't do a planned de-orbit.
 
It probably will.

That will be the signal for 40 Commando to begin their amphibious assault to reclaim Cromer for Civilisation. They have been practicing with nerve agents just to be on the safe side.
 
That will be the signal for 40 Commando to begin their amphibious assault to reclaim Cromer for Civilisation. They have been practicing with nerve agents just to be on the safe side.
Dave and Paul are in North Walsham for a few days but I reckon they'll have some back up, yes.
 
How would we be able to tell?

10-ton meteorite hits Norfolk resort at 1,000mph, does £10M of improvements.”

maximus otter
"Tinangong 1 hits Cromer .. locals too pissed to notice .. North Norfolk District council give it a parking ticket."
 
Current estimate for the Chinese Fireworks is early on Sunday. Which may or may not lead to a few "Ahh the space station's heading this way! ...April Fool!" incidents.
 

it's probably just CGI, but nice footage anyway! (china covering up the reality of Tiangong-1 crashing into Area51)

 
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A Boeing-built DirectTV satellite suffered some sort of breakdown, and its operators have requested clearance to de-orbit it as a precaution against its onboard batteries exploding.
DirecTV races to de-orbit satellite it fears could explode

A DirecTV satellite is at risk of exploding and the company is racing to move it out of orbit, according to public filings.

In a filing submitted to U.S. regulators this week and originally reported by Space News, the broadcast satellite provider requested temporary authority to "de-orbit" its Spaceway-1 satellite.

The Boeing-built satellite suffered damage to its batteries during a "major anomaly" in December, the filing said, and DirecTV is hoping to avoid a scenario where the satellite bursts in orbit, which could damage other communications satellites nearby.

According to the filing, after the battery was damaged, Boeing concluded the batteries are at high risk of bursting if recharged.

Now DirecTV is operating the satellite using power generated directly from its solar panels but it would need to use the battery as it passes through the Earth's shadow in late February -- which is why the company is looking to de-orbit and decommission the equipment before then.

It was not immediately clear what caused the battery damage or whether other Boeing-built satellites were at risk. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/202...te-it-fears-could-explode/5711579911813/?sl=1
 
A Boeing-built DirectTV satellite suffered some sort of breakdown, and its operators have requested clearance to de-orbit it as a precaution against its onboard batteries exploding. ...

An interesting contrast / conflict, or perhaps just routine confusion ...

This Live Science item states the satellite's owners / operators are intending to move it farther out into a graveyard orbit to eventually explode rather than bringing it "down" to avoid such an explosion.

In any case, this article contains more details on the situation ...
A TV satellite is about to explode following 'irreversible' battery damage

Plans have been OK'ed to move it to that great graveyard in the sky before exploding.

Following an unexplained accident, a satellite built by Boeing and operated by DirecTV is at risk of exploding in the coming weeks. To mitigate potential damage to other satellites, the U.S. government will allow the satellite TV provider to move the doomed craft to a higher orbit ahead of schedule. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/exploding-directv-satellite-graveyard-orbit.html
 
This is reported as a satellite crash but doesn’t look like one. It apparently exploded on impact.

It crashed close to a village in China. No-one hurt.

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There’s a video:
 
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