Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,298 posts, read 54,154,649 times
Reputation: 40621
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rggr
That's a good question.
To my great dismay it seems everyday I have far more questions than answers
I know in the early days of the Space Program vehicles carried charges that could be detonated if they went awry, I believe that's still the case. I would've thought a spy vehicle would carry a similar charge so that if its launch or orbit went rogu there'd be a way to keep it from prying eyes.
To my great dismay it seems everyday I have far more questions than answers
I know in the early days of the Space Program vehicles carried charges that could be detonated if they went awry, I believe that's still the case. I would've thought a spy vehicle would carry a similar charge so that if its launch or orbit went rogu there'd be a way to keep it from prying eyes.
The launch vehicle can be destructed if it should have problems but spacecraft themselves have never carried any destruct capability. The complete loss of the computer is not thought of as a credible failure so there "should" always be a way to ground command a reentry burn and destruction or in the case of a GEO bird a burn to place it an outward bound orbit. In this case, the non-credible failure of complete loss of the commanding actually happened so there was no other way to bring it down.
Just to add, even if it HAD a self-destruct capability, it would not have worked since the computer was totally dead.
Most satellites have thrusters on them, which allow NASA to control its re-entry and direct it into the ocean. The problem as I understand, is that since day one this satellite has been unresponsive, giving NASA zero control.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,298 posts, read 54,154,649 times
Reputation: 40621
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormcrow73
The launch vehicle can be destructed if it should have problems but spacecraft themselves have never carried any destruct capability. The complete loss of the computer is not thought of as a credible failure so there "should" always be a way to ground command a reentry burn and destruction or in the case of a GEO bird a burn to place it an outward bound orbit. In this case, the non-credible failure of complete loss of the commanding actually happened so there was no other way to bring it down.
Just to add, even if it HAD a self-destruct capability, it would not have worked since the computer was totally dead.
Thank goodness we didn't have a 'credible' failure
Thanks for the info, seems that 'Murphy' isn't limited as to where his law may strike.
Anything with Monomethyl Hydrazine in one tank and Nitrogen Tetroxide in another is going to explode when it his the atmosphere under any conditions. That combination is a very reliable hypergolic fuel that do not reqiure an ingniter to commence reacting.
BTW - a detonation setup can be made with a battery powered reciever and explosive detonator sensitive to a specific command and can be completely separate from the operating computer. That part is not "rocket science" but simple paranoia.
Anything with Monomethyl Hydrazine in one tank and Nitrogen Tetroxide in another is going to explode when it his the atmosphere under any conditions. That combination is a very reliable hypergolic fuel that do not reqiure an ingniter to commence reacting.
BTW - a detonation setup can be made with a battery powered reciever and explosive detonator sensitive to a specific command and can be completely separate from the operating computer. That part is not "rocket science" but simple paranoia.
Do you actually think that the up/down link communications systems on these things are simple recievers/transmitters that any fool with access to a dish and a TWT can talk to ? No; systems like this are highly encrypted and that means microprocessers/computers to embed/decode commands etc.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.