Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Collisions - Sub & Satellites

Of recent, two collisions in different elements, space and sea, kept the world glued to the media.
First, the collision between Britain HMS Vanguard and France's Le Triomphant, one of the few SSBNs (Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear) in the world. These vessels are designed to carry 16 missiles each weighing 35 tons, which in turn carry 6 warheads.
The first thought that occurred to me, when I saw the flash news, was that : "Even if the sensing equipment of one sub fails, the other would probably do the detection". My theory failed me when I realized that the modus-operandi of most SSBNs is to operate stealthily and to proceed undetected.
Yet given the fact there are so few SSBN, it is SO improbable to think of two vessels deciding coincidentally on the same depth and ordinates. Each sub had a crew of approx 250 members that in case of a fatal accident, would have been a immeasurable loss of confidential sailors and the thought of nuclear leakage or worse explosion clouds my imagination. We have to now feel happy that misfortune of running into one another didn't prove a mishap and thank God that they were friendly nations.

Secondly, the telecommunications satellite owned by Iridium Satellite (Iridium 33) and a defunct Russian military communications satellite (Cosmos 2251) were destroyed on mid-space collision. Statistics say they were destroyed about 780kms above the Russian Arctic and the collision has thrown out about 18000 debris of which 500 are now being tracked by Joint Space Operations Centre. The Federal Aviation Authorities (FAA) issued an advisory to aircraft pilots alerting them of the re-entering debris.
All that is known now, is the plight of the Iridium customers (approx. 3 million) who would be facing network issues. In my opinion the consequences faced by destruction of Cosmos 2251 would be higher, though again stealth mode prevents them blowing their trumpets.

Mother earth would have to be ready to accept a few craters,
while men on earth would pray for traceless damage over NA.
“Pray, and let God worry”

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