Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Rockets' Red Glare

Surely there must be an easier way to do this.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military likely will make its first effort to shoot down a crippled spy satellite that's approaching Earth's atmosphere sometime after 9:30 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced Tuesday, in what will be a major, if unplanned, test of America's anti-ballistic missile program.


Um... they are planning to do this, right? So it isn't exactly "unplanned" is it? "Whoops, we seem to have accidentally tested our ABM program. Our bad."

The USS Lake Erie, an Aegis class missile cruiser, will launch an SM-3 tactical missile toward the satellite from somewhere west of Hawaii, the Pentagon said. If that missile misses, the Navy has two other missiles on standby to launch, most likely on Thursday or Friday, the Pentagon said.


Three missiles. Well I like a good fireworks show. Are you sure three will be enough?

Firing the first missile will cost roughly $40 million, the Pentagon said, including the $10 million cost of the missile.


Never mind, carry on then.

The plan, however, is controversial. Some experts have suggested that the attempt is really an effort to expand the capabilities of the anti-ballistic missile system to include satellites and to counter China's destruction of an aged weather satellite last year. The United States denounced that Chinese test.


Oh I see. So this is really just some sort of hi-tech pissing contest, isn't it. Well, I guess boys will be boys.... just as long as they play safe.

U.S. officials announced last week that the Navy would try to down the satellite out of concern that a tank carrying 1,000 pounds of hydrazine, an ammonia-like chemical used in rocket fuel, would survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and land in a populated area. Hydrazine can be toxic if swallowed or inhaled.


.....


The shoot-down isn't a sure thing. The missiles that will be used to strike the satellite were designed to bring down ballistic missiles, and their software had to be rewritten so they could target the satellite, which moves faster than a ballistic missile.

The missiles also will find tracking the satellite difficult because, without power, it will be cooler than a ballistic missile. A senior Navy official, who couldn't be quoted by name under Pentagon press rules, said that the timing of the shoot-down was chosen partly so that the afternoon sun over the Pacific could warm the satellite, making it more likely that the missile would be able to find it 150 miles above the Earth's surface.

If the missile misses the satellite, it will keep traveling into outer space, the Navy said. The satellite will continue approaching Earth.

A successful hit by the missile may not, however, destroy the satellite's hydrazine tank, Pentagon officials said. If another missile strike is needed, that launch most likely would take place on Thursday.


Oh shit. I'll be sure to keep my umbrella handy. It has an American Flag pattern on it, you know.

Note: Yes, I cut up and rearranged that article a good deal. I don't think it obscures the meaning, though.

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