Says U.S. Plan to Shoot Down Spy Satellite a "Cover"

Russia has accused the US of using a plan to shoot down a broken spy satellite to prevent it from crash landing as a cover for testing an anti-satellite weapon. U.S. officials say the satellite contains hazardous fuel which could kill humans.

But Russia's defense ministry said the U.S. plans to test its "anti-missile defence system's capability to destroy other countries' satellites". The U.S. says the satellite lost power and communications shortly after it was launched in December 2006 and is now uncontrollable.

The satellite is carrying more than 1,000lb (454kg) of hydrazine fuel in a tank which would survive re-entry, and the substance could be released as a toxic gas if the satellite crash landed. The Pentagon said that the window for the operation would begin on Wednesday, when the space shuttle Atlantis ended its current mission.

"Speculations about the danger of the satellite hide preparations for the classical testing of an anti-satellite weapon," a statement reported by Itar-Tass news agency said. "Such testing essentially means the creation of a new type of strategic weapons," it added.

"The decision to destroy the American satellite does not look harmless as they try to claim, especially at a time when the US has been evading negotiations on the limitation of an arms race in outer space," the statement continued.

The Russian defence ministry argued that various countries' spacecraft had crashed to Earth in the past, and many countries used toxic fuel in spacecraft, but this had never before merited such "extraordinary measures".

The satellite had been predicted to reach the top of the Earth's atmosphere towards the end of February or early March and officials could not predict where it would land. A U.S. general said on Thursday that exposure to the hydrazine would have similar effects to inhaling chlorine or ammonia - a burning sensation in lungs and, if too close and too much, then possibly death.

The Pentagon says it plans to shoot down the satellite using a modified missile from a US Navy ship in the Pacific.

Posted by Casey Kazan.

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Source Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7248995.stm

Comments

[knoxvilledaniel]

I'm sadly, not surprised at the Russians saying that we have ulterior, sinister motives for shooting down a rogue malfunctioning satellite. Echoes of the Cold War & all that. & Russia is currently led by a guy who seems to want to bring back the " good old, bad old days " of the Cold War. Was Vladimir P. an officer in the KGB, perhaps ?

Anyway, it's sad that the Russian Defense Ministry is making such baseless accusations.