Photo: Falling somewhere to earth, hopefully not near you (or me)Don't look now but one of our spy satellites is coming down and no one knows where it will land.
What is amazing is that we still do not have a system for dealing with dead satellites, which have the potential of striking a populated area with potentially hazardous materials. So, why hasn't the government given NASA the job of producing some kind of "space tug" that could snag these objects - and have a controlled release where it can plunge into the ocean instead of New York, Moscow or London.
Imagine the "fallout" if one of our dead spy satellites (or any satellite) landed on Moscow? Or, ironically, on Washington DC? With an estimated 60,000 tons of space junk falling out of orbit every YEAR, it is only a matter of time. Do we failure to plan ahead and wait for a disaster to act? Probably.
Since this occurs on a regular basis and our strategy so far is to "cross fingers and hope for the best" how about some of that multi-billion Pentagon budget go to creating a device to keep satellites from falling on our heads.
On the political front, it is shaking out to be either Obama/Clinton vs. McCain/somebody. Some have fallen out of orbit, while others like Edwards and Paul seem to be in regardless of vote totals. Others appear to be rising and the potential of an independent run by someone like Blommberg appears possible. It won't be a dull year, for sure.
February 5 hopefully will provide some clarity. What's evident is the extraordinary high number of voters turning out, on both sides. It's getting ugly and its only January! Stay tuned.
The next falling object may be either a satellite or a Presidential campaign...The first we can fix if we had a plan. The second is up to the voters...
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