Earth Endangered? U.S. Missile-Warning Satellite Fails
The U.S. Air Force had no comment, but Space News reported on Monday that the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer John Young has signed a memorandum asking Congress to provide $117 million in funding in fiscal 2009 for a new satellite to hedge against a potential gap in satellite coverage around 2014.
What exactly happended you might ask in how could a satellite warning of missiles hitting us fail? I work in IT and would think they must have tested this… supportability, failover, reliability, etc. Reuters states the failure occured in mid-September! Accountability? One might suggest purchasing a home in Canada or Mexico does not make much sense, I’m not one to say. I would however say that Canada has alot more allies than enemies, especially particular enemies with long range missile capabilities.
By the looks of the satellite, it would seem clear that onsite maintenance is a bit tough.
Out of curiousity, I decided to check up on the background of this device. Come to find out this was created by a group out of Redondo Beach, CA. That story and everything Global Security could be researched here. I am resting assured that Obama will have the fore thought to make friends (or love) and not war with our biggest threats holding these weapons. Well, and heck if that’s not possible at least press the red button before they do!
