Far better than predicted ...
They got it on the first hit, virtually dead-center.
Initial estimates are showing that the hit-to-kill was dead-on, producing much smaller fragments in a much smaller volume than previously predicted. Even the largest piece is no better than a football. Most of the debris will enter within the first 48 hours after intercept, and virtually all within 40 days, again, better than predicted. More accurate simulations are being run based on the new sensory data.
Most of the rhetoric is getting old on this.
This isn't an anti-sat capability. They had to add a 3rd stage to reach 150 miles (the most accurate information says the intercept was actually at 133 miles), as the SM-3 normally can only go to 100 miles. The great majority of satellites are well outside 150 miles. It's also not a good anti-missile test, as the trajectory was fixed and extremely well known, let alone quite unlike a re-entry vehicle.
But the cool thing is that we now have a nice, additional, peaceful capability. I'm sure several space agencies around the world, possibly even a few militaries too, may be interested in downing a satellite that will not fully burn up on re-entry to avoid it hitting land.
They got it on the first hit, virtually dead-center.
Initial estimates are showing that the hit-to-kill was dead-on, producing much smaller fragments in a much smaller volume than previously predicted. Even the largest piece is no better than a football. Most of the debris will enter within the first 48 hours after intercept, and virtually all within 40 days, again, better than predicted. More accurate simulations are being run based on the new sensory data.
Most of the rhetoric is getting old on this.
This isn't an anti-sat capability. They had to add a 3rd stage to reach 150 miles (the most accurate information says the intercept was actually at 133 miles), as the SM-3 normally can only go to 100 miles. The great majority of satellites are well outside 150 miles. It's also not a good anti-missile test, as the trajectory was fixed and extremely well known, let alone quite unlike a re-entry vehicle.
But the cool thing is that we now have a nice, additional, peaceful capability. I'm sure several space agencies around the world, possibly even a few militaries too, may be interested in downing a satellite that will not fully burn up on re-entry to avoid it hitting land.
