Re: China ASAT Hits Its Target . . . And it's on West 43rd Street.

Chris Jones <clj@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

:"Jim Oberg" <joberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
:
:> China Hits Its Target . . . And it's on West 43rd Street.
:> by James Oberg // Weekly Standard // 1/27/2007, Volume 012, Issue 20
:>
:> http://www.weeklystandard.com/Check.asp?idArticle=13219&r=eztbj
:
:[...]
:
:> Not that the Times fully comprehended what China had done. The editorial
:> claimed it had destroyed a retired "communications satellite." But the
:> explosion in space destroyed something else, too.
:
:This may be nit-picking, but was it "an explosion in space"? It was a
:kinetic kill, more like being hit by a rock than a bomb. It certainly
:completely destroyed the target, whatever it's called.

Energy on target is energy on target. Calculate the kinetic energy of
the impact. Convert to kilograms of the explosive of your choice.

Explosion is the right word.

--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
--George Bernard Shaw
.

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