US Shoots Down Disabled Satellite

The US Navy launched an SM-3 missile from the USS Lake Erie yesterday and appears to have destroyed L-21, a satellite that had not achieved its proper orbit. The pretext for the launch was concern that 1,000 pounds of hydrazine in the fuel tank could cause harm should the fuel tank survive re-entry. This is, of course, non-sense. The US wanted to test its anti-satellite weapons and send a message to China and Russia.

The satellite was about the size of a bus (large enough to survive re-entry), and it appears to have carried some classified equipment. Washington’s spooks worried that if the thing came down (it would have come down in the first week of March as its orbit was decaying) in another country, some secrets would be lost. However, that was a minor consideration. Most of the world is covered in water, and it probably would have landed in the ocean (3:1 odds roughly).

The space shuttle Atlantis was in orbit earlier this week, and its cargo bay could have held the L-21 satellite. A space walking astronaut could have vented the fuel before putting the thing inside the shuttle, and then, Atlantis could have brought this multi-million dollar device down. It could have been repaired and relaunched. It wouldn’t be the first time NASA has done this.

No, the real reason for the SM-3’s use was to test the Navy’s anti-satellite systems. As MSNBC noted, “While Pentagon officials stressed that the satellite strike was a one-time incident, it certainly will spin off massive amounts of data and research that can be studied by the military as it works to improve its missile defense technologies.” The Navy isn’t fooling anyone.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a news conference in Beijing., “China is continuously following closely the possible harm caused by the U.S. action to outer space security and relevant countries. China requests the US to fulfill its international obligations in real earnest and provide to the international community necessary information and relevant data in a timely and prompt way so that relevant countries can take precautions.” Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said the US wanted to test its “defense system’s capability to destroy other countries’ satellites.” Well, the US proved it can destroy its own at any rate.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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