livescience.com— A new computer model shows a missile fired at an errant U.S. spy satellite will intercept its target with much of the rubble falling out and burning up upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.
Feb 19, 2008View in Crawl 4
Exactly. Pounds-force =/= pounds-mass. Yes, you can use pounds to describe either mass or weight, but you better make sure you're using the right one when you're running your equations. Look what happened to the Mars Polar Lander when they confused metric and English units.It's drilled into us Aerospace Engineering students to get our units right. Right now, we're only getting a problem on a test or a homework wrong. When we're in the industry and don't do adequate testing/checking? Landers make craters.
Well, I'm not sure about the missing-the-satellite part, but they are simplifying it somewhat for the public as compared to what they presented their superiors with. I would've liked to seen a full animation instead of just the critical parts, actually. (But I'm an Aerospace Engineering student, so that's to be expected.)
lerenardFeb 20, 2008
If the US wanted to test a weapon, they'd just test it. No need for cover operations. You know how much desert the US has nuked openly??
bensFeb 21, 2008
So.....They want to fire a missile into space and hit a bus sized target, yet they're firing it from a ship???
akamurphFeb 21, 2008
wait, isn't the missile part of the anti-missile defense system? So wouldn't it be saying we'll shoot down your missile before it hits our satellite.
icelightningFeb 21, 2008
Exactly. Pounds-force =/= pounds-mass. Yes, you can use pounds to describe either mass or weight, but you better make sure you're using the right one when you're running your equations. Look what happened to the Mars Polar Lander when they confused metric and English units.It's drilled into us Aerospace Engineering students to get our units right. Right now, we're only getting a problem on a test or a homework wrong. When we're in the industry and don't do adequate testing/checking? Landers make craters.
icelightningFeb 21, 2008
Well, I'm not sure about the missing-the-satellite part, but they are simplifying it somewhat for the public as compared to what they presented their superiors with. I would've liked to seen a full animation instead of just the critical parts, actually. (But I'm an Aerospace Engineering student, so that's to be expected.)
nexus37Feb 23, 2008
Great. Well I guess that just about does it. Now ..... who's ready for a nice, big slice of pie?