**The most comprehensive collection of Shuttle, Ares, Orion and ISS related presentations and mission documentation, plus expansive daily processing documentation and updates are <\/em>available to download on L2<\/em><\/font> **<\/em><\/font><\/u><\/em><\/p>\n The paralyzed satellite is out of contact and thus out of control, meaning it will re-enter Earth\u2019s atmosphere sometime in mid March, along with a full tank of frozen hydrazine \u2013 which might survive the fiery descent. <\/p>\n \u2018All, I wanted to provide some additional information to you about the US Government\u2019s decision to attempt to \u2018shoot down\u2019 a malfunctioning satellite,\u2019 noted Lindsey in the e-mail acquired by L2. \u2018The satellite was launched into orbit in late 2006 \u2013 and subsequently lost communications. <\/p>\n \u2018It is about to re-enter and break up, and the concern is that the spacecraft\u2019s hydrazine tank (nominally used for orbital maneuvering and controlled deorbit at the end of useful life) will survive to the ground, potentially putting people at risk of exposure to the chemical.\u2019<\/p>\n Company News (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n Lindsey referenced the commonality between spherical tanks that survived re-entry intact when Columbia broke apart over Texas, and the tank on USA 193. However, those tanks on the orbiter were protected by Columbia\u2019s Thermal Protection System (TPS) through the opening part of re-entry \u2013 to around Mach 18 \u2013 before the orbiter finally succumbed. <\/p>\n \u2018We learned from Columbia that spherical tanks (like this one) do survive entry intact,\u2019 added Lindsey. \u2018The area of risk is about the size of two football fields if the tank lands intact. In order to mitigate this risk, we will attempt to intercept the satellite just prior to entry (at about 130 NM HP) with a Navy missile.\u2019<\/p>\n The Navy will launch one of its Standard Tactical Missile from an Aegis cruiser, once the spacecraft is at an altitude of around 150-160 statute miles. The astronaut chief noted the possible results that can be expected from the intercept.<\/p>\n \u2018There are three possible outcomes: We miss (no change to the situation), We graze it (perturbing the orbit of whatever pieces remain, and almost certainly causing them to enter more quickly), or we hit the hydrazine tank (destroys the satellite and vents the tank prior to entry),\u2019 he added, before confirming the evaluations have been ongoing long before the official announcement last week. <\/p>\n \u2018NASA has been fully engaged in this for the past several weeks and will continue to be so. To be clear the only reason for this \u2018shoot down\u2019 is to protect against the hydrazine risk; if the satellite didn\u2019t have a full tank we would let its orbit decay and break-up normally during entry.\u2019<\/p>\n Lindsey\u2019s e-mail, which was sent to all NASA astronauts prior to the questions relating to the US government decision were asked by the media during a press conference with STS-122 commander Steve Frick and ISS Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson, also briefed the corp on the risks associated with the intercept.<\/p>\n \u2018The primary concern for our human spaceflight program is obviously the risk of increased orbital debris. First of all, shooting at the satellite when it\u2019s just about to enter the atmosphere significantly reduces risk,\u2019 Lindsey added. <\/p>\n \u2018With the current plan, after the target is hit more than 50 percent of the debris will enter the atmosphere within two orbits. The rest will be down in no more than a few weeks. This is significantly different than the ASAT test last year (by China), in which a satellite was hit at around 850 KM \u2013 that debris will be in orbit for decades. <\/p>\n \u2018Additionally, the plan is to wait until STS-122 has landed before taking the shot, so there will be no additional risk to the Shuttle. Risk to ISS is negligible to nonexistent (orders and orders of magnitude less than normal ISS spaceflight risks) \u2013 and trajectories will be analyzed to pick the \u2018optimum\u2019 windows which decouple ISS and the satellite\u2019s orbits.\u2019<\/p>\n *Click here for related Forum Pages*<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Astronaut chief Steve Lindsey claims the risk from orbital debris to the International Space Station (ISS) will be negligible to nonexistent, after the US Navy shoots down the failed USA 193 (NROL-21) military satellite. Lindsey, who briefed the astronaut corp in an e-mail on Friday, also used the opportunity to re-emphasize that the only reason […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The National Reconnaissance Office satellite was launched on a Delta II vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base back in December 2006, before the spacecraft failed shortly after reaching orbit.<\/p>\n