(via What’s new by Bob Park – Friday, February 22, 2008)
2. ANTISATELLITE WEAPONS: THE HYDRAZINE DECEPTION.
What do you do when a newly-emergent space power shows off its new anti- satellite capability, as China did last year? Well, you have to show that you too can shoot down a satellite. It’s relatively easy – satellites aren’t evasive and they keep doing the same thing over and over. To avoid violating treaties, you could sell it as a mission to save innocent lives from a rampaging tank of hydrazine. “If you inhale a lot of it, it could be deadly,” said the general in charge. The same is probably true of acetone, absinthe and toilet bowl cleaner to name a few. Anyway, the Navy did its part well. Unfortunately, as other countries flex their muscles in space it could be open season on dead school buses (there’s a lot of them).