Pentagon to shoot down broken spy satelliteBroken satellite expected to hit Earth in early MarchBREAKING NEWSThe Associated Pressupdated 12:10 p.m. ET, Thurs., Feb. 14, 2008WASHINGTON - U.S. officials say the Pentagon is planning to shoot down a broken spy satellite expected to hit the Earth in early March.
This is the first time U.S. military will use a missile to destroy a satellite in space, NBC News reports.
The spy satellite has lost all power and is expected to crash back on Earth in early March, spreading debris and potentially hazardous fuel over several hundred miles.
The Pentagon will rely on part of its Missle Defense System to destroy the satellite while still in orbit over the Pacific. The Navy will fire two or three SM-3 missiles from a cruiser and destroyer off the northwest coast of Hawaii.
The SM-3's, which are more of a medium-range interceptor, had to be modified — more fuel and new software — to reach the disabled spy satellite in orbit. If the intercept is successful and the satellite blown to bits, it appears most of the debris will become orbitting "space junk" and not re-enter the earth's atmopshere.
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This has never been tried before. Lets see if this works.
The Chinese tried it last year and the Pentagon made a huge deal about how this should not be done in space and it was an act of war. Now that they succeeded, US needs to respond to show they can do it to... should be interesting if it doesn't work out.
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