16.2.2008
By Philip Fernando in Los Angeles
Los
Angeles, 16 February, (Asiantribune.com): President Bush
has authorized the US Navy to shoot down a US spy satellite
that is falling out of orbit and due to collide with the
Earth any time now. A Navy cruiser is expected to fire
a single missile from its Aegis weapons system as early
as the end of next week, according to Pentagon officials.
Peace activists have already condemned this anticipated
action Bush’s entry into space wars. If the first
missile fails to destroy the satellite, the Navy will
go at it again after evaluation of the resulting trajectory
of the falling satellite. Additional ships are in position
to fire two more missiles, if that is deemed necessary.
General
James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, and NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who briefed
the press on the plans, have stated that the action was
necessary to minimize the danger that debris from the
satellite, particularly from its fuel tank, could injure
or kill someone when it crashes to Earth.
Some
space scientists and critics of the government have denounced
these claims, noting that no human being has been injured
by any of the thousands of pieces of manmade debris that
have fallen to Earth in the 50 years since the launching
of Sputnik inaugurated the space age. Some have agreed
with the pre-emptive shooting.
There
is also the scenario that top-secret technology on board
the failing satellite could be recovered by an adversary,
and the opportunity to test out US anti-missile technologies
on a live target. The satellite, designated US 193, was
launched in 2006 at the behest of the National Reconnaissance
Organization (NRO), the division of the Pentagon that
conducts satellite surveillance of the entire globe. US
193 were one of the first to use a new imaging technology
which the NRO would like to keep out of the hands of any
potential US rival.
Administration
has denied all suggestions about losing spy technology
stating all equipment on board the satellite would be
burned up during reentry. However, the web site Space.com
cited a number of cases where complex on-board instruments
have survived previous reentries and crashes. It stated
that at least in one case, sensitive technology was recovered
by a Peruvian peasant on a mountainside in the Andes.
Earlier
US space officials had said that US 193 believed that
there was no danger to people on the ground and that,
in particular, the volatile hydrazine fuel would melt
and then burn up during reentry. There is a view now that
the fuel tank, filled with a half ton of liquid hydrazine
that had frozen solid in the course of more than a year
in the near-absolute-zero temperature in orbit, could
serve as a buffer for the vehicle’s reentry, allowing
more of it to survive the estimated pressures of 25 times
gravity. Thus, giving credence to the theory that survival
and recovery of secret equipment on board may be a reason
for shooting the falling satellite.
United
States is in a position to take immediate defensive action
against incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)
aimed at US. These sea-launched missiles fired by Aegis-class
cruisers north and east of Japan would be the initial
line of defense against a nuclear-armed missile launched
against the continental United States. There is a second
line of defense: land-based interceptors fired from stations
in Alaska and California. They are being tested now while
the sea-based interceptors have been deployed already,
mostly against the threat of a missile launch from North
Korea.
The
New York Times recently reported that in short, “The
effort will be a real-world test of the nation’s
antiballistic missile systems and its anti-satellite abilities,
even though the Pentagon said it was not using the effort
to test its most exotic weapons or send a message to any
adversaries.” According to some reports satellite
US 193 differs from the usual test targets for the sea-launched
missile since it is much larger—about two and a
half tons—and at a much higher altitude. The missile
will be able to strike the falling satellite just as it
reenters the atmosphere.
Some
international observers have stated that the shoot-down
was a signal to Russia and China, two the most potent
long-term challengers to US military power. They said
that in the case of China, the destruction of the satellite
would demonstrate that the US had greater capability than
that demonstrated by the Chinese last year, when they
shot down an aging weather satellite.
The
action is particularly troublesome to many observers because
it was announced only two days after Russia and China
jointly announced their support for a new treaty banning
weapons in space. The treaty was presented to a Conference
on Disarmament meeting in Geneva, with Chinese Foreign
Minister Yang Jiechi declaring, “China hopes the
Conference on Disarmament will enter into substantial
discussion on the draft as soon as possible in order to
reach a common consensus.”
The
shoot-down could also have immediate practical consequences
for all countries conducting space operations. The resulting
explosion of the falling satellite could produce 100,000
pieces of debris, in contrast to the estimated 1,000 to
2,000 pieces of debris produced by the destruction of
the Chinese weather satellite, which was much smaller
than US 193. The Chinese satellite was at a much higher
altitude above the earth, over 600 miles, so the bulk
of its debris is still in orbit and a danger to other
space traffic. Since US 193 will be at 150 miles above
the Earth when it is destroyed, most of its fragments
will reenter the atmosphere immediately and burn up.
Courtesy - Asian
Tribune