USA-193 has now been hit by a missile fired from a US warship near Hawaii. The debris from the satellite will re-enter the atmosphere over the coming weeks. It is not yet known whether the hydrazine fuel tank was ruptured by the missile, which was the primary purpose of the firing.
LaunchUSA 193 was launched on December 14th, 2006 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launch vehicle was a Delta II. Shortly after reaching orbit, ground controllers lost the ability to control the satellite, and have never regained it.
PurposeThe exact design and purpose of USA 193 are, or course, closely guarded secrets, but specialists believe it is probably a high resolution radar satellite which was intended to produce images for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
When and where will it hit the Earth ?Now that the satellite has been broken up by the missile collision, the debris will come down over wide area over the coming weeks as they are slowed by atmospheric friction. Re-entry will happen when the pieces reach about 100km. The plot below shows the decay of USA-193 before it was hit by the missile. |
置顶卡
变色卡
千斤顶
显身卡
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