New York Gets a Parting Glance at Doomed Spy Satellite
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
New York - They shoot satellites, don't they? "USA 193," a spy satellite, passes over New York State and the eastern seaboard today in what could be its last visible pass before the Navy tries to shoot it down over Hawaii. As early as tonight, the Pentagon is hoping to launch a missile intercept of the "disabled" year-old radar observatory. Jeffrey Lewis with the New America Foundation says the ground hazard to New York from heavy parts and toxic fuel is low.
"Hydrazine is toxic, but it's not exactly nerve gas, and the chance that it would come down in an area where people are clustered closely enough to be worried about it seems very low--like half of one percent or five chances in a thousand."
President Bush ordered the controversial operation. The plan to use strategic weapons has been criticized by other governments, including Russia and China, although Beijing shot down a Chinese weather satellite early last year, creating an orbital debris cloud that threatens other satellites. Lewis says the American shoot-down is not illegal, but it raises international policy questions.
"Given the recency of the Chinese anti-satellite test, and the kind of obstinacy the Bush administration has shown in refusing to even be willing to talk about military missions in outer space, this really makes it hard to promote a norm against developing these kinds of weapons."
The two-and-a-half-ton spy satellite is being targeted by one or more sea-launched missiles. Collision debris could take weeks to re-enter the atmosphere. Astronomer Steve Kates with www.drsky.com says New Yorkers can get a good glimpse of the crippled bird when it flies over the eastern seaboard this evening.
"For New York, we have a good opportunity of seeing this spacecraft on February 20th at 6:08 p.m., some 37 degrees high into the northwestern part of the sky. It may be your last chance to see this military reconnaissance satellite."
Local observing details are available at www.heavens-above.com. New York State's next encounter with the satellite or its debris is estimated for March 6.
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