Talk:China shoots down weather satellite with ballistic missile
That big a deal?[edit]
Im not doubting the validity of this story, but after a zero gravity missile strike wouldn't most of (if not all of) the debris be pushed out of orbit either moving rapidly away from the earth until it is outside of a range where it poses a danger or back towards the earth were it would burn up upon reentry?
Also, I may be wrong, but it seems like the debris from one weather satellite and one ballistic missile orbiting in the vast expanse of space would provide very few risks. Not only do you have an area much greater than the area of the entire earth (including water), but you also have to take into account that in a microgravity environment, you are also dealing with a third dimention. The odds of any of the debris causing any harm to existing satellites is extremely low.
Of course, I do realize that if debris did manage to collide with something, the damage would be great. Especially if both objects were moving in opposite directions. 66.5.125.11 16:00, 19 January 2007 (UTC)
Biased Journalism[edit]
It seems that China has attracted lots of negative attention from this round of "satellite maintenance". It should be noted that what China did may be shocking, but it was still legal. The USA have more space weapons than anybody else on this planet AND they refused to sign the anti-space weapon treaty in 2002.
Read BBC coverage and related articles: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/asia-pacific/6276543.stm