Government Source: The Sky Is Falling!

F

Firebird2XC

Well-Known Member
Seriously.

Heard today on the GRR ATIS-

".... Caution: Falling Space Debris...."


The skipper didn't believe me and tuned in himself. He was forced to laugh after the fact.

He queried the dispatcher via ACARS about it. They called the GRR tower.

Shortly thereafter the ATIS changed. :rolleyes:
 
In defense of GRR, I saw a news cast today of what looked like a meteor. It could have very well have been space debris from the two satellites that collided yesterday. On another note, I think the odds of hitting anywhere near Grand Rapids are slim.
 
Doesn't anyone else find this a little bit weird? A RUSSIAN satellite and a US satellite "collide"? Anyone else see the movie Space Cowboys?
 
I don't have much reason to believe this collision was intentional or malicious, buuuut...

If you know where other countries' satellites are -- especially those communication relay ones that don't change orbit much -- it seems like there would be an advantage to preemptively park a device near it that is capable of disabling it (e.g., anything from temporarily blocking its function to going outright kablooey).

It may sound zany, but when it becomes important that that satellite not be there it might be more reliable than a ground or aircraft-launched ASAT weapon.

One other interesting coincidence is the USA-193 satellite was shot down by the Navy almost exactly one year ago.
emot-tinfoil.gif
:D
 
There's actually a NOTAM out about falling satellite debris, and to keep an eye out. That is probably where this came from.

Keep your eyes open, and report anything. Remember, Duck, Dodge, .....

Too lazy to look up the rest of the quote, but you get the idea.
 
If the Russians were going to come after our satellites, I doubt very much an Iridium satellite would have been their first choice, if for no other reason than they orbit low and fast and would be extremely hard to intentionally hit.
 
Remindes me of a scene from wall-e when the space ship leaves earth and flies through a half-mile think ring of just dead orbiting satellites, Do we really need that many. And one can only guess that the Pentagon has plans in order to disable them should we need too (i.e. war with Russia or china) We we start out by hitting command and control facilities, I would think satellites would be on that list.
 
I think the funniest thing was that as soon as somebody queried about it- the ATIS changed. It seems perhaps the GRR personnel felt a bit sheepish.
 
Had a mission once in the Navy to recover the first stage of the MX missile (anyone remember that?). They sent two of us out to sea with a recovery team. They had a rough idea where it would come down, but nothing was certain. Let me tell you, its a creepy feeling flying around out at sea waiting for a huge hunk of metal to come down so your divers can jump in, strap floatation bags to it until the buoy tender can get there to hoist it out.

BTW, we did it! It was the first (and only, I think) MX first stage ever recovered.
 
Somewhere, years down the road, there will a catastrophic event in space that will impact earth in more ways than one.

Singed,
-Nostradamus-
 
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