Russia is upset, China says that the United States is lying; however, the deed has been done nonetheless. The rogue spy satellite was taken out on the very first attempt. At 10:26 p.m. EST last evening, the Navy confirmed it hit a falling and potentially dangerous defense intelligence satellite using an SM-3 missile fired from the deck of the USS Lake Erie in the Northern Pacific.
Now we deal with the fallout- literally!
Officials say the missile likely destroyed its intended target, a 1,000 pound tank of toxic hydrazine fuel. "There was an explosion on impact and over 80 pieces of debris were detected after initial assessments," an official said. Some of those pieces are projected to stay in orbit for as long as 40 days before burning up as they fall to earth.
The blast is a good sign because the warhead was non-explosive, meaning the explosion was most likely caused by hitting the gas tank. The large amount of debris detected is also positive because it indicates they struck one of the satellite"s more massive sections, and the tank is one of its largest.
The missile hit the satellite about three minutes after launch as the spacecraft, roughly the size of a school bus, traveled in polar orbit at more than 17,000 mph. Land observers with the Joint Integrated Missile Defense Team in Colorado Springs and Strategic Command in Omaha will continue to assess the levels of damage along with the three Navy ships still in the Northern Pacific.
So, was this a convenient situation that allowed the United States to test their capacity to take out a satellite? Was it some sort of cover up like the IRAS satelitte that we said was inoperable only to turn it back on secretly? Maybe?
The use of the Navy missile amounted to an unprecedented use of components of the Pentagon"s missile defense system, designed to shoot down hostile ballistic missiles in flight — not kill satellites. The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Defense Secretary Robert Gates, rather than a military commander, was to make the final decision to pull the trigger.
And to think of the dramatics of the night. It was done right after Atlantis came back from the space station and on the night of the lunar eclipse. What a script!
The government organized hazardous materials teams, under the code name "Burnt Frost," to be flown to the site of any dangerous or otherwise sensitive debris that might land in the United States or elsewhere. Six federal response groups that are positioned across the country by the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been alerted but not activated, FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said. "These are purely precautionary and preparedness actions only," he said.