Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
February 22, 2008
Pg. 2
By Traci Watson, USA Today
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that the Pentagon will share whatever information it can with China about a crippled U.S. spy satellite that was shot down by the U.S. military.
China said it was monitoring potential dangers from the shoot-down and urged the United States to provide more information.
During a visit to the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, Gates said he shared some information with China beforehand, but he was not specific about what was or what would be shared.
The United States on Wednesday fired an SM-3 missile from a Navy ship and scored a direct hit on the satellite, which was loaded with toxic propellant, Marine Gen. James Cartwright said Thursday. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was an 80%-90% probability that the missile punctured the satellite's fuel tank. That would allow the 1,000 pounds of caustic fuel to dissipate before the tank hit the ground.
Cartwright also said large chunks of debris from the satellite are unlikely to hit the Earth's surface. So far, military radar has spotted no pieces bigger than a football, he said, though he cautioned that it will take one to two more days to confirm those observations.
If it had not been hit by the missile, the malfunctioning satellite would have fallen out of space and toward Earth in early March.
"You can imagine that at the point of intercept last night there were a few cheers," Cartwright said. "The technical degree of difficulty was significant."
Cartwright and other officials have justified the missile strike by saying the fuel tank could have remained intact as it fell through the atmosphere. Anyone who came in contact with the fuel, which contained hydrazine, could have been injured or killed, officials said.
The missile, which was a modified version of an anti-ballistic missile, was fired from the cruiser USS Lake Erie off Hawaii, Cartwright said. The missile and satellite collided at a combined velocity of 22,000 mph, but nearly all debris will fall into the Earth's atmosphere and be vaporized rather than lingering in orbit, where it would have endangered other satellites.
"Technically, it's clearly a big success," said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "The real problem is, does this take us another step down the road (toward) weapons in space?"
Last week, Russian officials said the true goal of the shoot-down was to test anti-satellite weapons, a charge U.S. officials denied. The Russian Embassy could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Last year, the Chinese shot one of their own satellites out of orbit. Now that the United States and China both have tested anti-satellite technology, Russia may be tempted to follow suit, said Ivan Oelrich of the Federation of American Scientists, making a treaty to ban space weapons less likely. China and Russia proposed such a ban before the Pentagon announced the attempt to destroy the satellite.
February 22, 2008
Pg. 2
By Traci Watson, USA Today
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that the Pentagon will share whatever information it can with China about a crippled U.S. spy satellite that was shot down by the U.S. military.
China said it was monitoring potential dangers from the shoot-down and urged the United States to provide more information.
During a visit to the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, Gates said he shared some information with China beforehand, but he was not specific about what was or what would be shared.
The United States on Wednesday fired an SM-3 missile from a Navy ship and scored a direct hit on the satellite, which was loaded with toxic propellant, Marine Gen. James Cartwright said Thursday. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was an 80%-90% probability that the missile punctured the satellite's fuel tank. That would allow the 1,000 pounds of caustic fuel to dissipate before the tank hit the ground.
Cartwright also said large chunks of debris from the satellite are unlikely to hit the Earth's surface. So far, military radar has spotted no pieces bigger than a football, he said, though he cautioned that it will take one to two more days to confirm those observations.
If it had not been hit by the missile, the malfunctioning satellite would have fallen out of space and toward Earth in early March.
"You can imagine that at the point of intercept last night there were a few cheers," Cartwright said. "The technical degree of difficulty was significant."
Cartwright and other officials have justified the missile strike by saying the fuel tank could have remained intact as it fell through the atmosphere. Anyone who came in contact with the fuel, which contained hydrazine, could have been injured or killed, officials said.
The missile, which was a modified version of an anti-ballistic missile, was fired from the cruiser USS Lake Erie off Hawaii, Cartwright said. The missile and satellite collided at a combined velocity of 22,000 mph, but nearly all debris will fall into the Earth's atmosphere and be vaporized rather than lingering in orbit, where it would have endangered other satellites.
"Technically, it's clearly a big success," said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "The real problem is, does this take us another step down the road (toward) weapons in space?"
Last week, Russian officials said the true goal of the shoot-down was to test anti-satellite weapons, a charge U.S. officials denied. The Russian Embassy could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Last year, the Chinese shot one of their own satellites out of orbit. Now that the United States and China both have tested anti-satellite technology, Russia may be tempted to follow suit, said Ivan Oelrich of the Federation of American Scientists, making a treaty to ban space weapons less likely. China and Russia proposed such a ban before the Pentagon announced the attempt to destroy the satellite.