United States Navy Scores Direct Hit On Spy Satellite

[Drew]

United States Navy Scores Direct Hit On Spy Satellite


By ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writers 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

HONOLULU - A U.S. Navy cruiser blasted a disabled spy satellite with a pinpoint missile strike that achieved the main mission of exploding a tank of toxic fuel 130 miles above the Pacific Ocean, defense officials said.

Destroying the satellite's onboard tank of about 1,000 pounds of hydrazine fuel was the primary goal, and a senior defense official close to the mission said Thursday that it appears the tank was destroyed, and the strike with a specially designed missile was a complete success.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered the shootdown, which came late Wednesday as he began an eight-day, around-the-world trip on which he likely will face questions about the mission.

The elaborate intercept may trigger worries from some international leaders, who could see it as a thinly disguised attempt to test an anti-satellite weapon ? one that could take out other nation's orbiting communications and spy spacecraft.

Within hours of the reported success, China said it was on the alert for possible harmful fallout from the shootdown and urged Washington to promptly release data on the action.

"China is continuously following closely the possible harm caused by the U.S. action to outer space security and relevant countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at news conference in Beijing. "China requests the U.S. to fulfill its international obligations in real earnest and provide to the international community necessary information and relevant data in a timely and prompt way so that relevant countries can take precautions."

While Pentagon officials stressed that the satellite strike was a one-time incident, it certainly will spin off massive amounts of data and research that can be studied by the military as it works to improve its missile defense technologies.

Officials had expressed cautious optimism that the missile would hit the bus-sized satellite, but they were less certain of hitting the smaller, more worrisome fuel tank.

In a statement released after the satellite was shot, the Pentagon said, "Confirmation that the fuel tank has been fragmented should be available within 24 hours." But a short time later, several defense officials close to the situation said it appeared the fuel tank was hit. One said observers saw what appeared to be an explosion. Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the results had not been formally documented at the time they spoke.

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.

Gates approved the missile launch at about 1:40 p.m. EST, while en route from Washington to Hawaii. Within nine hours ? at 10:26 p.m. EST ? the USS Lake Erie, fired the SM-3 missile originally designed to knock down incoming missiles rather than orbiting satellites.

It hit the satellite about three minutes later as the spacecraft traveled in polar orbit at more than 17,000 mph.

The Lake Erie and two other Navy warships, as well as the missile and other components, were modified in a hurry-up project started in January. The missile alone cost nearly $10 million, and officials estimated that the total cost of the project was at least $30 million.

The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Gates ? not a military commander down the chain of command ? made the decision to pull the trigger.

Gates had arrived in Hawaii less than two hours before the missile was launched. His press secretary, Geoff Morrell, said Gates had a conference call during his flight with Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of Strategic Command, and Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They told him that "the conditions were ripe for an attempt, and that is when the secretary gave the go-ahead to take the shot, and wished them good luck," Morrell said.

At 10:35 p.m. EST, Gates spoke to both generals again and "was informed that the mission was a success, that the missile had intercepted the decaying satellite, and the secretary was obviously very pleased to learn that," said Morrell.

Adm. Timothy J. Keating, chief of U.S. Pacific Command, told reporters shortly before the strike that he made calls to a number of international leaders to alert them to the mission. He said none said they had concerns, but he acknowledged he did not speak to the Chinese.

China and Russia both expressed concerns about the shootdown in advance, saying it could harm security in outer space.

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 regularly positioned across the country by the Federal Emergency Management Agency were alerted but had not been activated Wednesday, FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said before the missile launch. "These are purely precautionary and preparedness actions only," he said.

President Bush approved the shootdown mission last week, deciding it was important to destroy the toxic hydrazine fuel to prevent any possible injuries if the satellite came down in a populated area.

The three-stage Navy missile used for the mission has chalked up a high rate of success in a series of tests since 2002, in each case targeting a short- or medium-range ballistic missile, never a satellite. Modifications to the missile for the mission were completed in a matter of weeks, and Navy officials said the changes would be reversed once this satellite was down.

The government issued notices to aviators and mariners to remain clear of a section of the Pacific Ocean beginning at 10:30 p.m. EST Wednesday.

Having lost power shortly after it reached orbit in late 2006, the satellite was out of control and well below the altitude of a normal satellite. The Pentagon determined it should hit it with the missile just before it re-entered Earth's atmosphere, to minimize the amount of debris that would remain in space.

Left alone, the satellite would have hit Earth during the first week of March. About half of the 5,000-pound spacecraft was expected to survive its blazing descent through the atmosphere and would have scattered debris over several hundred miles.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080221/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/dead_satellite

[LittleFly]

Ok, how long until the conspiracy theorists start saying it wasn't a satellite that was shot down? .....

[Loaded NightraiN]

USA USA USA!!!! 

[Smoking Guns]

We got some badasses in our military is all I can say.

[fuckin crazy]

Oh, there is a conspiracy in this ... the lies of the Pentagon. The news outlets are calling hydrazine fatal. It is an irritant, and at the levels that would have been released from the fuel tank of the satellite, probably not a problem at all. Most of it would have probably burned up on re-entry, and if it didn't, it would have been widely dispersed.

They didn't want anyone getting their hands on the highly classified instruments that the thing carried.

[polluxlm]

Oh, there is a conspiracy in this ... the lies of the Pentagon. The news outlets are calling hydrazine fatal. It is an irritant, and at the levels that would have been released from the fuel tank of the satellite, probably not a problem at all. Most of it would have probably burned up on re-entry, and if it didn't, it would have been widely dispersed.

They didn't want anyone getting their hands on the highly classified instruments that the thing carried.

Or...they're showing off their new anti-missile tech. Fits with the star wars program. Could also be a combination of both.

[fuckin crazy]

Oh, there is a conspiracy in this ... the lies of the Pentagon. The news outlets are calling hydrazine fatal. It is an irritant, and at the levels that would have been released from the fuel tank of the satellite, probably not a problem at all. Most of it would have probably burned up on re-entry, and if it didn't, it would have been widely dispersed.

They didn't want anyone getting their hands on the highly classified instruments that the thing carried.

Or...they're showing off their new anti-missile tech. Fits with the star wars program. Could also be a combination of both.

I kind of doubt that. The US space agency, and the Pentagon, try to limit the amount of space debris due to the hazards posed to satellites and the ISS. They are currently tracking over 40,000 pieces(I think). 40% of which was caused when the Chinese hit their satellite a couple of years ago.

Most of the debris from this satellite will re-enter, but some percentage of it is bound to stay up there for years(that explosion had to have increased the ang. velocity of some of those pieces). Doc Emmett Brown, what say you?

[Perfect Criminal]

Tremendous show of US technology!  Impressive bloody show!  The reasons stated for it are irrelevent. 

[freedom78]

They didn't shoot it with a snuke, did they?  I'm very concerned about the snuklearization of space. 

[Drew]

Tremendous show of US technology!  Impressive bloody show!  The reasons stated for it are irrelevent. 

I thought it was definitely a kick ass job by the U.S. Navy. 

[Smoking Guns]

We are badasses.  don't fuck with US.

[Smoking Guns]

Tremendous show of US technology!  Impressive bloody show!  The reasons stated for it are irrelevent. 

I thought it was definitely a kick ass job by the U.S. Navy. 

Drew, hop over in the election thread, I need some back up from a local.

[Angel Down]

Adelaide, Perth and Darwin (Australian Cities) are all on alert for falling debris.

[Genesis]

Pretty impressive, considering the satellite was cold.

[Dr. Blutarsky]

When each missile cost $10 million you want to make sure you use it for a good reason - I suspect it was not just target practice, but a real concern regarding the hydrazine.

[polluxlm]

When each missile cost $10 million you want to make sure you use it for a good reason - I suspect it was not just target practice, but a real concern regarding the hydrazine.

When the budget is 10 trillion you don't give a fuck.

[fuckin crazy]

When each missile cost $10 million you want to make sure you use it for a good reason - I suspect it was not just target practice, but a real concern regarding the hydrazine.

Hydrazine had little to nothing to do with it ... see my previous post.

[Doc Emmett Brown]

Oh, there is a conspiracy in this ... the lies of the Pentagon. The news outlets are calling hydrazine fatal. It is an irritant, and at the levels that would have been released from the fuel tank of the satellite, probably not a problem at all. Most of it would have probably burned up on re-entry, and if it didn't, it would have been widely dispersed.

I was reading Phil Plait's site which led me to this post about hydrazine: http://astroprofspage.com/archives/1516  It gives a nice summary of its usage and potential hazards.  Its main advantage as a propellant over the safer alternative of hydrogen peroxide is it can provide a larger thrust for maneuvering in space.  Is it the main reason for striking the satellite? probably not...but I'm no chemistry expert.  I would think the Russian Cosmos 954 with its nuclear baggage was a much bigger headache when it crashed somewhere in Canada.

Most of the debris from this satellite will re-enter, but some percentage of it is bound to stay up there for years(that explosion had to have increased the ang. velocity of some of those pieces).

Their angular momentum comes from spinning around their own axis, so increasing/decreasing that value involves changing the moment of inertia of the body.  But I see what you're saying, the impact of the missile transferred momentum to the shattered pieces of the satellite, and some of these would be pushed into a higher orbit.  From what I read, the USA-193 was in a low orbit to begin with, where there is enough drag to reduce the orbital velocity of the shards to the point where they eventually plunge back to Earth.  In contrast, the Chinese impact was done at a much higher altitude and those pieces will remain up there for a long time. 

Check out the BA blog: http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/02/21/spysat-stuff/

[Angel Down]

Thanks for clearing that up Doc!   

[Axl4Prez2004]

I'm with F'in Crazy...it's a spy satellite.  The cost of taking it down means nothing.  The hydrazine thing, while it sounds nice and makes for good press, is a bit cockamamie. 

That thing had to be taken out so the technology could be kept secret, case closed.   

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

I'm with F'in Crazy...it's a spy satellite.  The cost of taking it down means nothing.  The hydrazine thing, while it sounds nice and makes for good press, is a bit cockamamie. 

That thing had to be taken out so the technology could be kept secret, case closed.   

I remember back in '99 when a spy plane of ours crash landed in China.

China sent us back the plane with all the components stripped out.

[Axl4Prez2004]

I'm with F'in Crazy...it's a spy satellite.  The cost of taking it down means nothing.  The hydrazine thing, while it sounds nice and makes for good press, is a bit cockamamie. 

That thing had to be taken out so the technology could be kept secret, case closed.   

I remember back in '99 when a spy plane of ours crash landed in China.

China sent us back the plane with all the components stripped out.

I'm quite certain we'd have done the same.   

[fuckin crazy]

I'm with F'in Crazy...it's a spy satellite.  The cost of taking it down means nothing.  The hydrazine thing, while it sounds nice and makes for good press, is a bit cockamamie. 

That thing had to be taken out so the technology could be kept secret, case closed.   

I remember back in '99 when a spy plane of ours crash landed in China.

China sent us back the plane with all the components stripped out.

I'm quite certain we'd have done the same.   

Though, I doubt that we would have imprisoned the crew of a crash landed plane.


Great links Doc Emmett Brown.

[Axl4Prez2004]

I'm with F'in Crazy...it's a spy satellite.  The cost of taking it down means nothing.  The hydrazine thing, while it sounds nice and makes for good press, is a bit cockamamie. 

That thing had to be taken out so the technology could be kept secret, case closed.   

I remember back in '99 when a spy plane of ours crash landed in China.

China sent us back the plane with all the components stripped out.

I'm quite certain we'd have done the same.   

Though, I doubt that we would have imprisoned the crew of a crash landed plane.


Great links Doc Emmett Brown.

"Though, I doubt that we would have imprisoned the crew of a crash landed plane."  -agreed.   

[Dr. Blutarsky]

When each missile cost $10 million you want to make sure you use it for a good reason - I suspect it was not just target practice, but a real concern regarding the hydrazine.

Hydrazine had little to nothing to do with it ... see my previous post.

I was not aware you were an authority on the subject.

This stuff isn't cotton candy:

Safety

Hydrazine is highly toxic and dangerously unstable, especially in the anhydrous form. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

    Symptoms of acute (short-term) exposure to high levels of hydrazine may include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, dizziness, headache, nausea, pulmonary edema, seizures, coma in humans. Acute exposure can also damage the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system. The liquid is corrosive and may produce dermatitis from skin contact in humans and animals. Effects to the lungs, liver, spleen, and thyroid have been reported in animals chronically exposed to hydrazine via inhalation. Increased incidences of lung, nasal cavity, and liver tumors have been observed in rodents exposed to hydrazine.[17]

At least one human is known to have died from exposure to hydrazine hydrate

[Angel Down]

At least one human is known to have died from exposure to hydrazine hydrate

Well......all the more reason to find an antidote.

[fuckin crazy]

When each missile cost $10 million you want to make sure you use it for a good reason - I suspect it was not just target practice, but a real concern regarding the hydrazine.

Hydrazine had little to nothing to do with it ... see my previous post.

I was not aware you were an authority on the subject.

I never claimed to be. However, the overwhelming majority of experts tend to think that the hydrazine issue is a red herring, and at best, a secondary, or tertiary reason.

Furthermore, I doubt anyone would be acutely exposed to the stuff. Too, it is very volatile, and evaporates relatively fast.

[Bobarcord]

When each missile cost $10 million you want to make sure you use it for a good reason - I suspect it was not just target practice, but a real concern regarding the hydrazine.

Hydrazine had little to nothing to do with it ... see my previous post.

I was not aware you were an authority on the subject.

This stuff isn't cotton candy:

Safety

Hydrazine is highly toxic and dangerously unstable, especially in the anhydrous form. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

    Symptoms of acute (short-term) exposure to high levels of hydrazine may include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, dizziness, headache, nausea, pulmonary edema, seizures, coma in humans. Acute exposure can also damage the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system. The liquid is corrosive and may produce dermatitis from skin contact in humans and animals. Effects to the lungs, liver, spleen, and thyroid have been reported in animals chronically exposed to hydrazine via inhalation. Increased incidences of lung, nasal cavity, and liver tumors have been observed in rodents exposed to hydrazine.[17]

At least one human is known to have died from exposure to hydrazine hydrate

Their are a good amount of prescribed medicines that have worse side effects on people then that.

[polluxlm]

The Government don't give a fuck if it's extremely hazardous. All their actions are strictly security, political or military.

[Angel Down]

Depends which government you are defining. That sounds Totalitarian to me.

[polluxlm]

Show me a government which isn't. Luxembourg don't count.

[Angel Down]

There are Liberal Governments that favour reform or progress, where human rights are the top priority.

[polluxlm]

Or so they like to tell people. Governments are inherently evil.

[Angel Down]

Democracy is a work in "Progress".



(I do not think that the Government who wrote the Constitution had evil in mind).

[polluxlm]

No, but look what happened. Like I said, inherently.

[Angel Down]

What happened?


A few Wars.


Then the Geneva Convention had to be written.


Then the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...........


(Good vs Evil).

[polluxlm]

A few wars.

Swing to the rhythm of the new world order baby. It's all going down the drain, what a show!

[Angel Down]

I don't think that War is a laughing matter.       

Far from it, really.   

[polluxlm]

No, but a hundred wars in light of "the geneva convention" and "human rights" is.

[Angel Down]

What's so funny about decades of human suffering?

It's really, really sad.

How many wars will it take until governments realize that it is not the answer.

If the theory of war was subject to scientific testing, it would be disproved.

[polluxlm]

To put it straight: I laughed at your assertion.

[Angel Down]

I'm sorry, I'm not sure to what you are referring.

What did I assert?

[polluxlm]

Let's drop it. It is what it is.

[Angel Down]

Let's drop it.

Good Idea.