Ka Leo O Hawaii

Issue date: 2/25/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Courtesy of Mct Campus In a plume of smoke, this SM-3 missile successfully destroyed a faulty National Reconnaissance Office satellite 133 miles above the earth on Wednesday.

Military officials expressed confidence that a failing satellite containing potentially hazardous fuel was destroyed last week, after a Navy missile interceptor struck the satellite orbiting 133 miles above the Pacific Ocean at 17,000 mph.

The 5,000-pound satellite, known as USA-193, was operated by the National Reconnaissance Office, one of the nation's largest spy agencies. The satellite faltered shortly after its launch in December 2006 and had been hurtling toward the earth's atmosphere ever since.

Military authorities were primarily concerned with the amount of hydrazine fuel carried by the satellite, which could release toxic fumes upon impact.

"It affects your lungs," said Gen. James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "If you stay very close to it and inhale a lot of it, it could, in fact, be deadly."

Cartwright acknowledged that it would take 24 to 48 hours for the Pentagon to determine, with full confidence, that the mission was a success, despite visual and spectral evidence confirming that the fuel had been dispersed.

"At this point, we're 80 to 90 percent confident that the fuel tank was breached," Cartwright said.

Despite the high probability of success, pieces of the fuel tank were expected to survive re-entry into the atmosphere. Accordingly, State Department administrators alerted American embassies around the world to take precaution in case leftover debris fell into populated areas.

Not everyone is convinced that the satellite mission was benign, however, with opponents contending that the operation was actually an attempt to bolster support for America's controversial missile defense system.

"I wasn't involved with this project, but I can tell you that the military doesn't do anything without a reason," said Sean Kimura, University of Hawai‘i student and former Marine. "I think it's very likely that there's more to this mission than we've been told."

Critics point to the technology used to destroy the satellite as evidence of the mission's ulterior purpose. At 5:26 p.m. last Wednesday, the USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser, fired a single Aegis missile from one of its forward hatches. Both the Lake Erie and the Aegis missile system were designed to deflect incoming ballistic missiles as part of the military's anti-ballistic missile program.

According to Cartwright, missile defense sensors played an important part in refitting the projectile used in Wednesday's mission from targeting enemy warheads to tracking a satellite.

"This was a one-time modification," Cartwright stated, rebuffing the mission's detractors.

International reaction to the endeavor was generally unfavorable, with China expressing concern that the Navy's action could threaten security in outer space.

Last year, American officials denounced China's use of an anti-satellite weapon to destroy a satellite in a higher orbit than USA-193. The collision scattered 1,600 pieces of debris throughout the satellite's orbit, preventing other spacecraft from using similar coordinates.

Other nations questioned the utility of spending $100 million to shoot down a satellite that posed little threat to human life. Official estimates stated that the satellite had a 1 percent chance of colliding with a populated area, if left unimpeded.

Still, some UH Mānoa students were impressed by the event's degree of difficulty and applauded the military's effort to protect citizens.

"This was literally a life or death issue," said Michelle Peterson, a graduate student specializing in military history. "No matter what our political inclinations, we can't play games with the preservation of human life."

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