Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
CNN
February 19, 2008 CNN Newsroom, 1:00 PM
DON LEMON: Get out of the way. That is the warning to ships and planes as the U.S. Navy gets ready to try to shoot down a faulty satellite sooner than they had planned. Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, is following all the latest for us.
Jamie, I thought they only had, like, one shot at it. Why did they decide to move it up?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're -- the -- what they're trying to do is take that shot as soon as they can, so if it doesn't work they have a couple of chances to do it again.
Right now we have an official notification from the U.S. government that their first window of opportunity will be Wednesday night, late Wednesday afternoon, Hawaii Time, when the satellite will be passing over the Pacific Ocean, and the U.S. Navy will take a shot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MCINTYRE: This is the target, an experimental spy satellite that failed upon launch over a year ago. And this is what will try to take it down: a Navy standard missile. Price tag for the missile alone is $10 million. Figure at least $40 million for the whole shebang.
So why not just let the satellite fall? Chances are it won't hit anyone. But if it does, its full tank of hydrazine fuel could be a deadly hazard.
GEN. JAMES CARTWRIGHT, JOINT CHIEFS VICE CHAIRMAN: So the regret factor of not acting clearly outweighed the regret factors of acting.
MCINTYRE: There's not much real downside of a miss, except the cost, which could go from $40 million to $60 million if the Navy has to fire a second $10-million missile. There's no rainy-day fund for falling satellites, so the money will come out of the general Pentagon budget.
The only other risk is of embarrassment, if America's $100 billion missile shield can't hit a satellite the size of a bus. Still, the smart money is on a direct hit.
JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: The interceptors they've tested a number of times before. Generally, been successful. They've tested them against much smaller targets. And this large satellite, I think the odds of success are pretty good. (END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: So this official notice to airmen that the U.S. government has put out identifying a large patch of the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii as the potential zone where the debris could come down.
Don't be surprised, by the way, if you see another one of those issued tomorrow for Thursday night, even before the first shot takes place, because they have to put these out at least 24 hours ahead of time, and the U.S. is going to want to keep preserving its options of taking additional shots if that first one doesn't work.
LEMON: OK. So that sort of answers the question here. If you can answer question yes or no for me. Will they try again? Yes, if they can, right?
MCINTYRE: Well, you know, it's actually a complicated calculation. Because what will happen is the satellite will go by. They'll fire a missile. They'll either hit it or graze it or perhaps miss it entirely.
Then they'll go back to their calculations while the satellite continues to orbit to try to figure out if they have another shot where they can bring it down over water. The last thing they want to do is bring it down over land. If they don't feel like they have a good shot, they'll just let it come down naturally. But if they do have a good second shot, they'll try it again.
LEMON: And I've got to ask you something. Complete transparency here. I have Miles O'Brien's old office and extension here. And I got a call from a viewer. He said, "I was trying to get Miles, but I'll ask you. What happens if they miss? What happens to the missile that they're sending there, because that missile has an explosive head on it?"
So people are wondering, well, is the missile going to be more dangerous than the actual satellite that's coming down? What happens?
MCINTYRE: Well, first of all, the missile does not have an explosive head.
LEMON: OK.
MCINTYRE: It has what's called a kinetic kill vehicle. It actually smashes the satellite from impact.
LEMON: Got it.
MCINTYRE: They'll try to hit it head-on. The other thing is there is a self-destruct mechanism on the missile if it were to malfunction before it got into space. But no, it will not -- it will not pose a hazard once it's up in space.
LEMON: There you go, you answered the question. Thank you very much for that. Senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.
February 19, 2008 CNN Newsroom, 1:00 PM
DON LEMON: Get out of the way. That is the warning to ships and planes as the U.S. Navy gets ready to try to shoot down a faulty satellite sooner than they had planned. Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, is following all the latest for us.
Jamie, I thought they only had, like, one shot at it. Why did they decide to move it up?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're -- the -- what they're trying to do is take that shot as soon as they can, so if it doesn't work they have a couple of chances to do it again.
Right now we have an official notification from the U.S. government that their first window of opportunity will be Wednesday night, late Wednesday afternoon, Hawaii Time, when the satellite will be passing over the Pacific Ocean, and the U.S. Navy will take a shot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MCINTYRE: This is the target, an experimental spy satellite that failed upon launch over a year ago. And this is what will try to take it down: a Navy standard missile. Price tag for the missile alone is $10 million. Figure at least $40 million for the whole shebang.
So why not just let the satellite fall? Chances are it won't hit anyone. But if it does, its full tank of hydrazine fuel could be a deadly hazard.
GEN. JAMES CARTWRIGHT, JOINT CHIEFS VICE CHAIRMAN: So the regret factor of not acting clearly outweighed the regret factors of acting.
MCINTYRE: There's not much real downside of a miss, except the cost, which could go from $40 million to $60 million if the Navy has to fire a second $10-million missile. There's no rainy-day fund for falling satellites, so the money will come out of the general Pentagon budget.
The only other risk is of embarrassment, if America's $100 billion missile shield can't hit a satellite the size of a bus. Still, the smart money is on a direct hit.
JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: The interceptors they've tested a number of times before. Generally, been successful. They've tested them against much smaller targets. And this large satellite, I think the odds of success are pretty good. (END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: So this official notice to airmen that the U.S. government has put out identifying a large patch of the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii as the potential zone where the debris could come down.
Don't be surprised, by the way, if you see another one of those issued tomorrow for Thursday night, even before the first shot takes place, because they have to put these out at least 24 hours ahead of time, and the U.S. is going to want to keep preserving its options of taking additional shots if that first one doesn't work.
LEMON: OK. So that sort of answers the question here. If you can answer question yes or no for me. Will they try again? Yes, if they can, right?
MCINTYRE: Well, you know, it's actually a complicated calculation. Because what will happen is the satellite will go by. They'll fire a missile. They'll either hit it or graze it or perhaps miss it entirely.
Then they'll go back to their calculations while the satellite continues to orbit to try to figure out if they have another shot where they can bring it down over water. The last thing they want to do is bring it down over land. If they don't feel like they have a good shot, they'll just let it come down naturally. But if they do have a good second shot, they'll try it again.
LEMON: And I've got to ask you something. Complete transparency here. I have Miles O'Brien's old office and extension here. And I got a call from a viewer. He said, "I was trying to get Miles, but I'll ask you. What happens if they miss? What happens to the missile that they're sending there, because that missile has an explosive head on it?"
So people are wondering, well, is the missile going to be more dangerous than the actual satellite that's coming down? What happens?
MCINTYRE: Well, first of all, the missile does not have an explosive head.
LEMON: OK.
MCINTYRE: It has what's called a kinetic kill vehicle. It actually smashes the satellite from impact.
LEMON: Got it.
MCINTYRE: They'll try to hit it head-on. The other thing is there is a self-destruct mechanism on the missile if it were to malfunction before it got into space. But no, it will not -- it will not pose a hazard once it's up in space.
LEMON: There you go, you answered the question. Thank you very much for that. Senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.