U.S. to shoot down disabled spy satellite
Published: Feb. 14, 2008 at 2:30 PM
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. officials Thursday said the military is planning to shoot down a disabled spy satellite that is expected to crash into Earth next month.
The National Security Council said the satellite, believed to weigh 5,000-to-10,000 pounds, is carrying substantial amounts of the rocket fuel hydrazine, The Washington Post said.
The satellite lost communication with ground control shortly after it was launched in December 2006 and was never ordered to conduct a burn of its fuel, the newspaper said.
Experts had previously said there appeared to be little danger of anyone being harmed by the falling satellite. Larger spacecraft such as Skylab and the space shuttle Challenger have fallen to Earth without consequences, the Post said.
But there is some concern that some of the satellite's sophisticated spying technology might survive a fiery re-entry through the atmosphere, National Public Radio reported.
The National Security Council said the satellite, believed to weigh 5,000-to-10,000 pounds, is carrying substantial amounts of the rocket fuel hydrazine, The Washington Post said.
The satellite lost communication with ground control shortly after it was launched in December 2006 and was never ordered to conduct a burn of its fuel, the newspaper said.
Experts had previously said there appeared to be little danger of anyone being harmed by the falling satellite. Larger spacecraft such as Skylab and the space shuttle Challenger have fallen to Earth without consequences, the Post said.
But there is some concern that some of the satellite's sophisticated spying technology might survive a fiery re-entry through the atmosphere, National Public Radio reported.
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This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
This undated NASA image shows two galaxies that are slowly colliding and possibly, in hundreds of millions of years, only one galaxy will remain. Although it is likely that no stars in the two galaxies will directly collide, the gas, dust and ambient magnetic fields do interact directly. These galaxies, part of the vast Hydra-Centaurus supercluster of galaxies, spans over 100 thousand light-years across and is located about 100 million light-years away. (UPI Photo/NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage)
NASA image shows galaxies that will slowly collide
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