Thursday, March 5, 2015

Why Did A U.S. Military Satellite Explode In Space?


Gizmodo: A Satellite Exploded in Orbit and No One's Quite Sure Why Yet

How many satellites would you say are currently orbiting the Earth? A few hundred? Maybe a thousand? No: There are about 3,700 satellites hurtling through orbit above us—so when one of them "breaks up," it's a big deal.

This week, Space.com reported that a Department of Defense satellite exploded on February 3rd, creating a debris field of 43 objects. The satellite in question? The 13th in a 1990s-era project called the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, designed to give the Department of Defense weather data and atmospheric conditions in combat zones. For example, DMSP-13 relayed flight conditions for Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, says Space.com.

Previous Post: U.S. Military Satellite Explodes In Space

WNU Editor: The mystery deepens.

5 comments:

Ropestuff said...

A spike in temperature like it was hit by a laser?

War News Updates Editor said...

Ropestuff .... you are saying what everyone else is thinking.

Ropestuff said...

In response to increased surveillance over the disputed islands, as a way of saying "watch out"?

Ropestuff said...

Funny that a story like this is left to the public to speculate. I have a hard time believing that the Air Force doesn't know what happened.

War News Updates Editor said...

They are probably not sure .... after-all it took them some time to realize there was a problem to begin with. But I will not be surprised if there is a team right now examining what went wrong.