U.S. May Shoot Down Errant Satellite

The U.S. spent around a billion dollars on a dud spy satellite, and now, the military is considering plans to shoot it down. That's right, the Lockheed Martin-built satellite that is floating around in space -- soon to re-enter Earth's atmosphere -- may be shot out of the sky.

Now, if a missile defense test costs on average between $80 and $100 million, I'd have to guess that Operation Broken Satellite (okay, I made that up) would be something in the general price range of the tens of millions of dollars. Heck, why don't they just use the missile defense system, which is supposed to be kind of, sort of deployed (or deployable), to blow it out of the sky.

This is high comedy, I mean, suppose they miss?

Anyhow, Aviation Week & Space Technology has a fascinating story on the life and coming death of this errant satellite:

The concern is that the spacecraft carries a full tank of hydrazine - a toxic propellant - that would have been used to reposition the satellite in orbit. Government analysts say the odds are that the tank will crack open during re-entry or than it will land in the ocean, which makes up 70% of the area where the breaking up satellite might land. There also is concern in some quarters that debris could reveal U.S. national security secrets if recovered by other nations. It is expected to re-enter the atmosphere late this month or in early March.

Analysts at the Missile Defense Agency and NRO have put hundreds of hours into analysis and have studied closely the accuracy of surveillance capabilities of U.S. radars in Japan, Alaska and possibly elsewhere to give more targeting options to those assessing the danger of the satellite falling to Earth.

A senior official with insight into the planning says that a rumor that the satellite carried a small, nuclear generator is "absolutely and totally incorrect." However, government agencies including MDA and NRO "are studying options that include" hitting the satellite with a weapon so that it breaks up in space - and ruptures the hydrazine tank -- before beginning its descent.

A nuclear generator? Wow, and I thought I kept up on my satellite technology conspiracy theories. Anyhow, I'm guessing that, in fact, the U.S. is concerned about spy sat technology falling into the wrong hands, because in my heart of hearts, I just don't believe that the NRO spends all day worrying about a satellite, even a toxic one, falling in somebody's backyard. But hey, I could be wrong.

Update:

My bad, DANGER ROOM's Kris Alexander (and a couple commenters) have noted that that having a small nuclear generator is hardly a conspiracy theory. It's been used on a number of spacecraft.