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US confident satellite's fuel tank was destroyed
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 21 - 02 - 2008


The US military expressed confidence Thursday
that the missile strike against a failed spy satellite succeeded in
destroying a hazardous fuel tank that could have posed a danger to
humans if the spacecraft re-entered Earth's atmosphere, according to dpa.
Marine General James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, said there was a "high degree of confidence" the
tank carrying a toxic fuel called hydrazine was ruptured, but another
one to two days of analysis was required to be certain.
Cartwright said the Pentagon spotted a vapour cloud that erupted
following the collision in low orbit over the Pacific Ocean, and
pictures that show the missile hit near the tank were solid evidence
the tank was destroyed.
"By all indications, we're on a positive path that this was a
successful intercept," Cartwright said, but added the Pentagon was
not "at a point where we are ready to say for sure."
The Navy fired an unarmed missile to take out the rogue satellite
before it was to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere in the first week of
March. The Pentagon was worried the fuel could harm humans if it
landed in a populated area.
President George W Bush authorized the shoot-down of the satellite
to minimize the threat, but the act prompted protests from Russia and
China, who argued the controversial operation could be seen as a test
of the US missile-defence system's ability to hit satellites.
The USS Lake Erie near Hawaii fired a missile at 10:26 pm
Wednesday (0326 GMT Thursday) that struck the satellite minutes later
at a speed of 27,000 kilometres per hour and at an altitude of 247
kilometres.
The successful hit will be viewed as a major accomplishment for
the sea-based missile defence system, which was built to counter
medium-range threats and has in testing been among the Pentagon's
more reliable missile defence programmes.
Officials expect most of the debris to burn up while re-entering
the atmosphere. The Pentagon wanted to avoid the possibility of the
satellite's debris returning to a high orbit and posing a threat to
other objects in space. Cartwright said the debris spotted since the
collision indicate the satellite was broken into small pieces.
"Right now we're seeing nothing bigger than a football,"
Cartwright said.
The US military opened a window beginning Wednesday in hoping to
launch a missile to shoot down the satellite, despite earlier
concerns about poor weather that caused rough waters around the
firing vessel.
The satellite lost communication shortly after it was launched in
2006 and has since wandered aimlessly in orbit. It had over time
begun a descent toward Earth and the White House opened up the
possibility of shooting it down earlier this year.
The Pentagon estimated that it would have until the end of
February to shoot down the satellite but waited to fire until the
return of the Space Shuttle Atlantis early Wednesday at Cape
Canaveral, Florida.
The Pentagon was concerned that once the satellite fell into re-
entry in March, it would not be possible for the missile defence
system to track it for a missile strike.
China and Russia protested the launch would mark a step toward the
weaponization of space and signalled a broader mission for the US
missile-defence system. The sea-based Aegis version of missile
defence was deployed by the Navy to strike the satellite.
China a year ago used a land-based missile to shoot down one of
its old weather satellites, which was in much higher orbit than the
US satellite, leaving thousands of chunks of debris in orbit that
will have to be monitored for years. The US strike against the
satellite in low orbit means most of the debris will burn up in the
atmosphere within weeks, officials said.
China, however, on Thursday restated its complaints about the US
operation. A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Liu
Jianchao, said Beijing was worried about potential damage from the
destruction and the possible ramifications for security in space.
The United States should provide the international community with
information "promptly" so "relevant countries can take precautions."
Cartwright said the Pentagon was supplying the State Department with
information to pass on to its embassies throughout the world.
The USS Lake Erie, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, fired a Standard
Missile-3, which used thermal image sensors to seek out the satellite
and computer-guided thrusters to stay on course. When the satellite
mission arose, the Navy rushed to adjust three of its missiles to hit
a satellite target rather than an enemy missile; only one was needed.
The Standard Missile does not carry explosives, instead colliding
with targets at high speeds.
Experts have suggested that the US military could have used the
satellite to test the adaptability of its missile defence system for
taking out satellites or to prevent sensitive technologies on the
satellite from ending up in the wrong hands.
The United States had not tested an anti-satellite weapon since
1985.


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