20-year-old Military Weather Satellite Apparently Exploded in Orbit . RIP

[ahhming]

A 20-year-old military weather satellite apparently exploded in orbit following what the U.S. Air Force described as a sudden temperature spike.

The “catastrophic event” produced 43 pieces of space debris, 
This satellite, was the oldest continuously operational satellite in the DMSP weather constellation which was launched in 1995 , it provided thousands of hours of weather imagery to Air Force and Navy forecasters before transitioning to a backup role in 2006. The Air Force said its sudden loss would have minimal impact.

 The Air Force said it is continuing to track the debris and will issue conjunction warnings if necessary.

 

 
 
 
sudden temperature spike? and boom?

source:
http://spacenews.com/20-year-old-military-weather-satellite-apparently-exploded-in-orbit/

[Palfi]

Can we get any fotage

[Aniallation]

ok? trash in outer space became spread out trash in outer space

[Toddwjp]

i think we need to start regulating space debris and clean up, more then we already do

[ionbasa]

Either the batteries exploded, or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator went bad...

[Zeke]

Can we get any fotage

Yes, there was an orbital helicopter with five cameramen on it nearby just when this happened. The footage is being processed now.

[Palfi]

Yes, there was an orbital helicopter with five cameramen on it nearby just when this happened. The footage is being processed now.

Well in rusia there were many meteor fotages so why not here

[Zeke]

Well in rusia there were many meteor fotages so why not here

Yes, there were many meteor footages because a: we Russians love our dashcams and b: it was after the thing went into the atmosphere. The sattelite this topic is about is still in orbit around Earth but now with less structural integrity. Sure, you could get some footage of it (kinda like you can do with the ISS) but it's just a bunch of semi-high-tech crap floating in space.

[sgloux3470]

i think we need to start regulating space debris and clean up, more then we already do

 

There's not much more we can really do about it other than keep track of it so we can avoid it.  Clean up is largely infeasible.

[Brawhammer]

F

 

 

Probs for the best that more advanced tech is up there anyway.

[pit5000]

lasers, quite obvious

[Tonylu1595]

Dammit America stop letting the public find out about your weapon testing.

[Maslofski]

Or Jeb just hit some buttons in the control center, who knows

[Tech_Dreamer]

In other news , Clooney & Sandra bullock have no clue what's coming their way..

[The Crazed Child]

Either the batteries exploded, or this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator went bad...

That sounds smart

[Sanctuary2808]

Russians did it...oh wait, this isn't the Cold War (not that it would stop them ). Maybe ISIS did it? Nah, Darth Vader did it.

[techswede]

Sudden temperature spike?... 

 

 

I for one welcome our new overlords

[Fred Castellum]

It must have been the North Koreans at it again. 

 

Sudden temperature spike?... 

I for one welcome our new overlords

I don't...

 

[techswede]

It must have been the North Koreans at it again. 

 

I don't...

 

--snip--

Tali could rule over me anyday

[Fred Castellum]

Tali could rule over me anyday

Oh? I already knew that. 

[euniqe]

who cares,  satellite's are known to be brittle. I'm surprised it lasted 20 years - this was inevitable. 

[MoonSpot]

who cares,  satellite's are known to be brittle. I'm surprised it lasted 20 years - this was inevitable. 

 

Space junk is why I, and I assume most of us, care.  The satellite was supposed to decommissioned by using it's reserve fuel to crash it back down into earths atmosphere.  However the united states air force opted to keep the obsolete satellite for a half arsed backup instead of doing what they should have done.  Another example of do what we say and not what we do.  How are governments supposed demand that big telcos communications satellites have a plan to bring their garbage back from orbit when they themselves don't.  This problem is getting bigger every month.

[elkenrod]

There's not much more we can really do about it other than keep track of it so we can avoid it.  Clean up is largely infeasible.

 

Oversized Garbage Remote Electromagnetic Satellite

 

aka

 

O.G.R.E.S.

 

It's one of the projects for my Masters Degree

[Akolyte]

ALIENS!!!

[The_Strict_Nein]

i think we need to start regulating space debris and clean up, more then we already do

 

The problem is cost. It'd be a multi-million dollar trash collection, essentially. No matter how necessary it is, it's space. No politician could possibly sell it to the public and NASA can't afford to spend the money on a trash run as long as they can still make it work.

 

The only hope really is private companies and they have no incentive.