5 ms·
deorbit in a few months anyway This makes me think of a movie plot: A rogue nation is suspected of preparing an ICBM launch, but moments after launch it become
by cperciva 11y ago
deorbit in a few months anyway
This makes me think of a movie plot: A rogue nation is suspected of preparing an ICBM launch, but moments after launch it becomes clear that the trajectory will take the payload into orbit and the world breathes a sigh of relief. That is, until a spy discovers that the satellite contains a nuclear weapon and is designed to deorbit a few months later and land in Washington DC...
- JshWright 11y agoThat would be well into sci-fi movie plot territory though... The atmosphere is far too variable to predict a specific deorbit point months in advance.
- theGimp 11y agoNot if you include a thruster :)
- mikeash 11y agoYou've reinvented fractional orbital bombardment: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_Orbital_Bombardment_System https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_Orbital_Bombardme...
- cperciva 11y agoAs far as "bad science" movie plot holes go, I don't think this would even be on the list.
- saulrh 11y agoAlso, the movie would end anticlimactically about thirty minutes after the discovery as the offending satellite orbits too close to a US Navy missile cruiser and gets blown out of the sky. :P
- cperciva 11y agoNo, there would be a plot twist where the US military threatens to shoot down the satellite, but the hero would stop them from doing this at the last minute due to the threat supposedly posed by having radioactive material raining down on half of the planet. ;-)
- saulrh 11y agoheaddesk
- 13of40 11y agoThis is a good read if you're interested in that sort of thing: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment
- ctdonath 11y agoMore like that payload detonates over the USA, causing an EMP that fries high tech electronics, subsequently killing millions. That one is called "One Second After", a good read.
- dghughes 11y agoThese things always seem to land in Canada if I had it I'd bet $100 it's going to come down on my house.
- grubles 11y agoThis is what they were talking about on Fox News earlier today.