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U.S. Military Will Try To Shoot Down Errant Satellite

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By MARC KAUFMAN and WALTER PINCUS, The Washington Post

Published: February 15, 2008

WASHINGTON - A Navy ship in the Pacific Ocean will try an unprecedented shootdown of an out-of-control spy satellite loaded with a toxic fuel as it begins its plunge to Earth, national security officials said Thursday.

President Bush made the decision because it is impossible to predict where a tank containing the fuel might land in an uncontrolled descent.

The Pentagon decided to use a modified, ship-fired anti-ballistic missile to make the attempt sometime after Wednesday to avoid creating debris that could threaten the space shuttle on its return from the International Space Station, according to a military source.

Gen. James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Navy missile will be fired as the satellite re-enters the atmosphere and "has a reasonably high opportunity for success."

The Pentagon and NASA have been working on the missile modifications for the past three weeks.

Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey said the decision was based on the fact that the satellite is carrying a substantial amount of a hazardous rocket fuel, hydrazine.

Unless it is shot down, the satellite, which has been out of ground communication since its launch more than a year ago, is expected "to make an uncontrolled reentry ... on or about March 6," according to documents the Bush administration provided to the United Nations on Thursday.

"At present, we cannot predict the entry impact area," said an official notification sent Thursday to countries around the world as well as the U.N. and NATO.

Hidden Reasons?

Officials acknowledged Thursday that many satellites - some of them much larger - have fallen to Earth in the past without harm.

They said, however, that the presence of 1,000 pounds of hydrazine - unexpended fuel contained in a 40-inch sphere that was likely to hit the ground intact - led Bush to approve the Pentagon's recommendation to attempt the shootdown.

Some experts theorized that the administration was influenced by concern that classified components on the intelligence satellite could fall into hostile hands.

Denying this, Cartwright said any sensitive instruments would burn on re-entry.

The government, however, never has resorted to shooting down a disabled spacecraft or satellite, despite dozens of crashes and re-entries.

Administration officials said this time is different because the satellite failed shortly after its launch in December 2006, leaving almost all of its hydrazine rocket fuel frozen in the uncontrollable spacecraft.

Cartwright compared it to a bus, with only half of the craft likely to burn on re-entry. That means the fuel tank could survive if it is not destroyed by the missile strike.

Officials compared the effects of hydrazine fuel to chlorine or ammonia.

"It affects your tissues and your lungs - it has the burning sensation," Cartwright said. "If you stay very close to it and inhale a lot of it, it could in fact be deadly."

John F. Pike, a military analyst who specializes in space-based weapons and intelligence systems, said that under normal circumstances, dying satellites are guided into the Pacific Ocean, primarily so foreign rivals do not get their hands on sensitive components.

"I'm not arguing that hydrazine isn't a problem," Pike said. "But they're so concerned in normal circumstances about things falling into the wrong hands that I'm not sure I believe them."

Some experts said the military was seizing an opportunity to test its controversial missile defense system against a satellite target.

Others noted that the Standard Missile 3 has been tested successfully against warhead targets, which are far smaller than the satellite.

"There has to be another reason behind this," said Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Henry L. Stimson Center, a liberal arms-control advocacy organization. "In the history of the space age, there has not been a single human being who has been harmed by man-made objects falling from space."

Minimizing Debris

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin insisted that the interception was not a ruse to try the defense system on a satellite or to one-up other countries that have made similar attempts.

The administration was harshly critical of China when it destroyed an aging satellite in orbit.

The difference, Griffin said, "is, one, we are notifying, which is required by treaties and law. OK?"

The Chinese satellite was destroyed at a much higher altitude - about 600 miles - creating a field of orbiting space debris that creates hazards for other spacecraft.

The United States and Soviet Union conducted anti-satellite tests in the mid-1980s but stopped once it became clear the debris from the destroyed spacecraft became a danger to other satellites and even spaceships.

Griffin said the low altitude at which the satellite will be targeted - about 150 miles - would minimize orbiting debris.

Jeffrey said the fuel tank was the only piece of the craft not expected to explode on re-entry, and it was hoped the missile could destroy it in space.

Other experts, however, said they think the heat of re-entry would cause the tank to explode safely high in the air.

Two additional U.S. Navy cruisers, with backup missiles, have been configured for a second and third chance, if necessary, Jeffrey said.

The National Reconnaissance Organization satellite lost contact with ground control soon after it was launched in December 2006. It was never ordered to burn its hydrazine maneuvering fuel.

The Columbia spacecraft, which lost control and hit the Earth in 2003, also contained a canister of hydrazine gas that landed intact in a Texas woodland. The Columbia was at the end of its mission, however, and most of the hydrazine had burned up.

Cartwright said the Aegis missile system aboard the cruiser would fire an SM-3 Standard missile with a heat-seeking nose that destroys its target by hitting it, not blowing it up.

Information from the Los Angeles Times was used in this report.

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