Missile Hits Dying US Spy Satellite

WASHINGTON — A Navy missile soaring 130 miles above the Pacific smashed a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite Wednesday and probably destroyed a tank carrying 1,000 pounds of toxic fuel, officials said.

Officials had expressed cautious optimism that the missile would hit the satellite, which was the size of a school bus. But they were less certain of hitting the smaller, more problematic fuel tank, whose contents posed what Bush administration officials deemed a potential health hazard to humans if it landed intact.

In a statement announcing that the Navy missile struck the satellite, the Pentagon said, "Confirmation that the fuel tank has been fragmented should be available within 24 hours." It made no mention of early indications, but a defense official close to the situation said later that officials monitoring the collision saw what appeared to be an explosion, indicating that the fuel tank was hit.

The USS Lake Erie, armed with an SM-3 missile designed to knock down incoming missiles _ not orbiting satellites _ launched the attack at 10:26 p.m. EST, according to the Pentagon. It hit the satellite about three minutes later as the spacecraft traveled in polar orbit at more than 17,000 mph.

Because the satellite was orbiting at a relatively low altitude at the time it was hit by the missile, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere immediately, the Pentagon statement said.

"Nearly all of the debris will burn up on re-entry within 24-48 hours and the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days," it said.

The use of the Navy missile amounted to an unprecedented use of components of the Pentagon's missile defense system, designed to shoot down hostile ballistic missiles in flight _ not kill satellites.

The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Defense Secretary Robert Gates _ not a military commander _ was to make the final decision to pull the trigger.

The government organized hazardous materials teams, under the code name "Burnt Frost," to be flown to the site of any dangerous or otherwise sensitive debris that might land in the United States or elsewhere.

Also, six federal response groups that are positioned across the country by the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been alerted but not activated, FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said. "These are purely precautionary and preparedness actions only," he said.

Comments

[nicho]

I hope they don't let Cheney try to shoot it down. I'd hate to have him shoot some other old man in the face.

[NYC07]

NEWS FLASH : Cheney shots at satellite misses, Kills Man In The Moon instead !!! Film at 11

[Knowbetter]

Beat me to the punch line. Dammit!

[CaptainObvious]

Well hopefully all the debris descends into the atmosphere as expected. With all those satellites up there, one tiny piece of space junk could set off a chain reaction that would destroy all of our satellites and prevent space travel for 100 years.

Of course, I'm sure bush has thoroughly researched the possible negative consequences - he wouldn't make a decision that would threaten to turn back the world's progress for a hundred years, would he?

[Macready]

duh . . .

[NCDog]

That isn't how orbital mechanics work. Go back to watching Armegedon.

[CaptainObvious]

Does space junk orbit, or not? Is it's flight path controlled or even known? How do you stop space junk from slamming into another satellite at 14,000 mph? Would that cause any damage to the satellite?

I was under the impression that there were different orbits - does everything up there move at the same speed and in the same direction, leaving no mathematical possibility of collision?

In the Challenger accident, didn't they determine that it was a piece of space junk approximately the size of a postage stamp that destroyed it?

[957]

Wow you mean there is actually other news happening beside all this politics crap, finding myself spending less and less time on this other sites because all you get is politics, does everyone really want to hear about this crap 24/7?

[Independent voter]

This makes me mad as hell.

The NASA space shuttle has been in orbit this week. Instead of doing something useful like retrieving this broken satellite or repairing it in place, or moving it to a higher orbit the shuttle is used to enhance the 'club med' on the international space station.

The estimated cost for this spy satellite is $500M and it's going to cost another $40M to $60M for each attempt to shoot it down.

Here's the real kicker - the so called missle defense system uses infrared heat signatures to identify and track it's target. But a dead satellite doesn't generate any heat, so the missle defense agency has to hope that there is enough reflected sunlight on this satellite in order for the attacking missle to be able to find it.

Has the military considered how foolish they will look if they miss this thing, which is for all intents and purposes, sitting still?

Not
Another
Stupid
Adventure

[Dendroica]

Do you think they can just bring the Shuttle to within a few feet of this giant satellite, and graple onto it with the arm?

Shit son, this is beyond a doubt one of the most stupid posts I've ever read! First of all, they don't use passive infrared alone, they use optical and radar/lidar based active imaging. And this bird is so big, people can see it on the ground with a decent telescope (or even a good pair of binos if you know where to look) and if you are in the right track near sunrise or sunset, WITH THE NAKED EYE.

[Independent voter]

To my very rude and uninformed critics (Dendroica & NCdog)

1) The Hubble telescope is in a orbit 366 miles above the earth. The international space station is in an orbit 219 miles above the earth. The defective satellite is in an orbit 150 miles above the earth. I'm sure that you can do the math and figure out that the defective satellite is lower than the Hubble or the space station and is easily reachable by the shuttle.

2) The shuttle has proven quite capable of docking with the Hubble as well as other orbiting satellites for upgrades and repairs.

3) The SM3 missile relies exclusively on forward looking infrared to locate it's target.


My point is that it would be better to retrieve this satellite and return it to Earth for repair or attempt an in situ repair rather than waste $500M or $600M so redneck idiots like you can go Whoopee.

But don't let facts get in the way of your specious rantings.

[NCDog]

Take an online course in orbital mechanics. The shuttle flies in a completely different orbit. Its why it couldn't go retrieve the Hubble. You don't know that but you know all about the weapons tracking system? Give me a break. Instead of banking on failure why don't you show support for all the hard working and extrememly intelligent people who are working right now to ensure this comes off corectly.

[NorthWoodsVoice]

NCDog,

You should ask for your money back from your "orbital mechanics" course. Did you not see the video and photos of the shuttle astronauts correcting the defective mirror on the Hubble? How did they do that if the shuttle can't reach it?

[Macready]

with this administration of course . . . why should the chimp and co break their record now?

[libmatters]

A test for the Pentagon's future Space Wars.
Now, what to do with all of the debris floating around after the satellite explodes?

[NCDog]

FYI. The ISS orbits at approx 225 miles above the earth's surface. This thing is currently at a 150 miles. It is entering the atmosphere right now...just not the really thick part where the friction will cause it to burn up. When it is destroed all those pieces will be comming in (all but a few will burn up) and none will remain in orbit.

[Dendroica]

There are hundreds of thousands of amateur astronomers who have equipment sufficiently advanced and they can easily follow and plot the course of the satellite. That's why they've scheduled the shoot down for the middle of the Pacific, away from eyes that could verify (or negate) the success of this mission.

This is the easiest test ever- a huge satellite, with very regular and easily predetermined track, with a huge radar and visible light target.

Watch them miss!

[helonias]

Its all a set up by the military. They will shoot the missile at it and the satellite will be exploded by remote control. Everyone will cheer and the military industrial complex will add many billion to their future profits.

Does anyone think for a minute that it wouldn't be successful?

[Macready]

I think they will miss it!

[wadenelson1]

Military has had trouble hitting targets like these even when they equipped them with homing beacons.

The speeds are just too great, the room for error too small.

Hitting a satellite in a decaying orbit may make Cheney and company feel safer or more powerful but for the rest of us it's just an added tax burden.

[GhostintheMachine]

You are soooo intelligent. I wish I was like you.

[helonias]

So you recall the success of the Patriot missiles shooting down scuds too.

[Sundialsvc4]

Uhhhh... it's a weapons test, okay? No, it's not "okay," and the whole damn world knows it.

Don't you think the world knows how to, say, read Wikipedia's article on "hydrazine," which says in part: "Hydrazines are part of many organic syntheses, often those of practical significance in pharmaceuticals, such as antituberculants, as well as in textile dyes and in photograph­y." ... "it is used as an antioxidant, an oxygen scavenger, and a corrosion inhibitor in water boilers and heating systems. It is also used to reduce metal salts and oxides to the pure metals in electro[de]less nickel plating ..."

So... it's a weapons test. Just like the Chinese government did a few months ago.

Did YOU ever hear about a "heat-less power system?" Well, there's only one of those and it comes from nuclear isotopes. So, here you have a bunch of military guys, pointing fingers at a chemical that's going to flame-out as soon as it hits the atmosphere (BTW: some plants produce hydrazine), and they're NOT talking about the nuclear fuel.

It's a weapons test. It's Star Wars, the Battlefield in the Sky with all the blown-apart junk raining down upon us and upon our cities.

Mark my words: the end of this is famine and millions of dead teenagers.

[helonias]

Try plutonium the worse stuff you can imagine.

[iamjoyce]

$60 million for this first attempt. Like every other failed attempt from the chimp's administration, we'll probably end having to send up a surge of missles, putting us in even greater debt that China will willingly help us with.

[GhostintheMachine]

Its Booooshh

[Macready]

It sounds almost impossible to shoot it down .. . I think this is more an exercise in propaganda by the chimp ...

[stupidme]

STAR WARS ... who's to know that the "satellite" is broken, disabled, etc. The Chinese and the Russians aren't all that thrilled with this. Maybe, just maybe, this is just a test shot. We shoot this one down and look out. If we can shoot one of our own down, who's to say we can't shoot down one of theirs? And then what happens when they can shoot down our satellites. Luke, Luke ??

[GhostintheMachine]

Its Boooosh