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Space, the final frontier, should be free of unilateral United States missile launching ostensiblly to destroy a rogue satellite. Why wait 2 years?

USA193, a United States spy satellite, launched in 2006, orbited Earth, completely out of manned control for the last two years and was threatening to crash-land on Earth, on or before 24th March 2008 at an unknown location, possibly near a habited area. This satellite was traveling across the sky during daytime hours in the northern hemisphere, however, after the third week of March it could could be readily tracked with the naked eye.

No longer!

This satellite contained hydrazine, a propellant, which, on contact, shuts down the organs of a human being or animal on inhaling its highly toxic vapours. This satellite is lethal to all living things. US President Bush authorised the shooting down of this satellite. This operation was never performed before. This satellite traveled some 28,000km per hour (approximately 17,000 miles per hour) or 8km per second (approximately 5 miles per second). A single missile could not succeed, so, a spread of missiles along the predicted trajectory of the satellite may be launched, without guarantee of success.

Fortunately, during the early hours of 21/2/2008 an Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) was fired from a US nuclear submarine in the Pacific Ocean at a range of 240km and, apparently, the satellite was completely destroyed. The United States claimed a hit. This unilateral action by the United States was condemned by Russia and China as a covert missile test. Was the USS Jimmy Carter the submarine involved? Perhaps not - it may be in the Persian Gulf. Helium should retain this and other current hot topics long term.

The satellite was the size of a London double-decker bus, weighing c.10 metric tonnes. The International Space Station (ISS) weighs 300 metric tonnes, carrying ten astronauts, and, at present is clearly visible in the night sky traversing an easterly flight path.

The spy satellite could be a very valuable piece of merchandise if it landed on a persons property. In 1984, an Australian farmer sold a large section of Skylab to NASA for $50,000 after he claimed ownership when it fell on his land. He hoarded the space junk for an inordinate period of time until the price was right. The USA has a avid competitor in E-Bay guaranteeing an inflated price at auction, particularly a piece with USA193 clearly visible.

Frequently, spy satellites are used to construct space vehicles. In fact, some of the Hubble Space Telescope's mirrors came from an old spy satellite.

A spy satellite contains data, cameras and log banks any of which could be valuable to a country like China or India with competing space programs. A particularly valuable data component could, if recovered and de-coded provide an insight into the purpose for such a satellite. The United States is anxious to retain ownership of any recoverable hardware.

Some due consideration must given to the possible environmental damage. How many more toxic satellites are due to crash-land on Earth?

Why does the US have large numbers of spy satellites?

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