Task of Shooting Down Satellite Begins
WASHINGTON — The many moving parts of a mission to shoot down a dying spy satellite with an anti-missile interceptor lined up Wednesday after the space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth, officials said.
Military officials were reviewing the weather in the Pacific Ocean to determine if the operation could be launched overnight on Wednesday, as rough seas west of Hawaii prompted officials to caution that the attempt to destroy the satellite, carrying 1,000 pounds of toxic rocket fuel, might be delayed.
The goal of the mission is to prevent the fuel tank from reaching Earth and spilling its hazardous contents in a populous area. In the event that any of the hydrazine fuel falls on a populated area, the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday issued directions to community first responders on how to deal with dangerous debris from the satellite.
Military officials said their goal was to carry out the mission before March 1, when the satellite is predicted to start skidding against the upper reaches of the atmosphere. That initial friction would bump the satellite into a more unpredictable orbit around the Earth, even before it starts a fiery descent through the atmosphere.
Providing new information about how the mission would be carried out, a senior military officer on Wednesday described the vessels, weapons and command structure for the unusual operation, the first time an interceptor designed for missile defense would be used to attack a satellite. The senior military officer briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
The officer said that three Navy warships were in position in the Pacific Ocean to launch the interceptors, and that radar and other tracking equipment, both in space and on the ground, were being monitored at Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California, and at a space command headquarters in Colorado Springs.
The operation is being controlled from the Strategic Command headquarters in Omaha, Neb., with additional monitoring of information transmitted from the interceptor managed by the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency.
Although the satellite circles the globe every 90 minutes, analysts have pinpointed a single overhead pass each day that would offer the best chance of striking it and then having half of the debris fall into the atmosphere during the very next three orbits over water or less-populated areas of the Earth.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who left Washington on Wednesday for a week of meetings in Asia, has been empowered by President Bush to issue the order to shoot down the satellite. Officials said Mr. Gates would have to weigh the opportunity of success against the many risks — including weather, technical problems and even world politics — before issuing the order.
Given rough seas on Wednesday, it was likely the mission would await at least a day. As the deadline approaches, officials said, such moderate risks as high seas might be overlooked.
The senior military officer said the mission would be launched in daylight to take advantage of radar, heat-sensor tracking and even visual tracking equipment.
When the order is given to carry out the mission, the Navy will have a window that lasts only tens of seconds as the satellite passes overhead, the senior military officer said.
An Aegis cruiser, the Lake Erie, has two Standard Missile 3 rockets on board that have been adapted to track the cold satellite, as opposed to the heated enemy warheads for which it was designed. A second Aegis ship, the Decatur, has a third missile as back-up, and another Navy vessel, the Russell, is sailing with the convoy for added tracking capabilities — what the senior military officer described as providing a "stereo picture."
Separately, a Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, dismissed suggestions that the operation was designed to test the nation's missile defense systems or antisatellite capabilities, or that the effort was to destroy sensitive intelligence equipment.
"This is about reducing the risk to human life on Earth — nothing more," Mr. Whitman said.
While officials should be able to determine within minutes of the launch whether the satellite was hit by the interceptor, which carries no explosive but strikes with destructive force, it may take a day or more to determine whether the fuel tank with 1,000 pounds of toxic Hydrazine was destroyed. Any decision to launch a second or third missile may take several days.
The 5,000-pound satellite, roughly the size of a school bus, is managed by the National Reconnaissance Office and went dead shortly after it was launched in December 2006.
FEMA on Wednesday issued an 18-page instructions document, "First Responder Guide For Space Object Re-Entry," to help local authorities deal with debris from the satellite should it fall in their areas. "The satellite that is degrading from orbit has hazardous materials on board that could pose immediate hazards to people if they come in contact with the material," the FEMA document states. "Any debris should be considered potentially hazardous, and first responders should not attempt to pick it up or move it. First responders should secure a perimeter and control access around any debris. DO NOT pick up any debris."
The document describes specific dangers posed by the hazardous material, what protective clothing is required for emergency workers in the vicinity, and how to manage populations near a site where debris falls.
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