posted February 15, 2008 01:21 PM         

During the next week, a wayward U.S. spy satellite will make passes across North America and western Europe soon after sunset and should be easily visible to the unaided eye.

That's if it doesn't get shot down first.

The falling satellite is named USA 193. It was launched Dec. 14, 2006. It has been described as being similar in size to a school bus and might weigh as much as 10,000 pounds. It carries a sophisticated and secret imaging sensor but the satellite's central computer failed shortly after launch, never reaching its final orbit, and the Pentagon declared it a total loss in early 2007.

Since then, the satellite's orbit has been decaying — slowly at first. But in recent weeks USA 193's nearly circular orbit has been rapidly lowering. Currently, its altitude is approximately 160 miles (260 km) above the Earth.

Unless a proposed plan by the Pentagon is enacted to shoot down USA 193 during the next week, the satellite could conceivably re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up sometime in mid-March.

Viewing opportunity

Today through Feb. 22, USA 193 will make a number of evening passes over North America and western Europe. It's orbit is inclined 58.5-degrees to the equator, a setup that makes it readily observable from most of the Northern Hemisphere.

During this period, USA 193 will move along a general southwest-to-northeast trajectory and pass over a number of cities in the United States, southern Canada and western Europe.

To spot a specific satellite, you need to know when and where to look.

Predictions for the times and locations of USA 193 are available at the Heavens Above website (www.heavens-above.com). Based on this website's sighting information, USA 193 will be very favorably placed for observation over a number of large cities, assuming it is still in orbit around the Earth and weather conditions permit.

What to look for

To find satellites, it's also helpful to know how to roughly measure the sky. Your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10-degrees of the sky. (From the horizon to the top of the sky (the zenith) measures 90-degrees.)

From Chicago, as an example, the spy satellite is predicted to reach as high as 38-degrees above the horizon (nearly four fists) on Feb. 17. That same date, as seen from Orlando, Florida, an evening pass as high as 65-degrees is predicted.

From Boston and Seattle, nearly overhead passes are forecast for (respectively) Feb.18 and Feb. 22. And on the latter date, London, England should have a fine pass, with USA 193 arcing as high as 77-degrees above the horizon.

It should be stressed that because of the rapidly changing nature of its orbit, sighting information from Heavens-Above should be checked frequently.

Those who have seen the International Space Station (ISS) flying across their local skies should be aware that USA 193 will appear noticeably fainter, since it's quite a bit smaller than the ISS. Yet, at its brightest, the spy satellite still should rank as bright as the brightest stars, at roughly first magnitude in astronomers parlance.

posted February 15, 2008 02:01 PM         

HEY - it has it's saturn in the same house as mine except in leo instead of virgo! it's true node in 8th house is being hit by uranus.

posted February 15, 2008 04:07 PM         

This article contains information regarding a satellite which either currently in the process of being a target for an ASAT missile launch, or is scheduled to do so within the next week or so.

Details may change as the countdown and ascent progress.

Launch details: An SM-3 missile, with an ASAT payload will be launched from the USS Lake Erie by the US Navy to intercept the USA-193 satellite. Launch will occur NET 20 February 2008, and no later than early March. Most reports suggest sometime between 20-25 February.

USA-193 (NRO L-21)

The launch of USA-193.

Organisation: US National Reconnaissance Office

Mission type: Spy satellite

Satellite of: Earth

Launch date: 14 December 2006, 21:00:00 GMT

Carrier Rocket: Delta II 7920

Mission duration: Failed immediately after launch

NSSDC ID: 2006-057A

Mass: Classified

Power: Classified
Orbital elements

Regime: LEO

Inclination: 58.48°

Apoapsis: 268km, as of 2008-02-11

Periapsis: 255km, as of 2008-02-11

USA 193, also known as NRO launch 21 (NROL-21 or simply L-21) is an American military spy satellite.[1] Owned by the National Reconnaissance Office, the craft's precise function and purpose are classified. This was the first launch conducted under contract to the United Launch Alliance.[2]

Contents
1 Launch data
2 Malfunction and orbital decay
3 Hazardous materials and destruction plans
4 Media reports
5 Catalogue IDs
6 See also
7 External links
8 References

Launch data
Launch date: December 14, 2006 at 21:00:00 UTC[1]

Launch vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II-7920 rocket[3]

Launch site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, United States[1]

Launch facility: Space Launch Complex 2[4]

Orbit data: not officially available.[5] Reported as 255km x 268km x 58.48° by amateur observers on 2008-02-11.[6] Orbit is decaying.

Malfunction and orbital decay
In January 2007, less than a month after the satellite's launch, reports surfaced that a U.S. spy satellite, probably this one, had lost all contact with the ground.[7]

In January 2008, reports emerged that a U.S. spy satellite, again probably this one, was in a deteriorating orbit, and that the object was expected to crash into the Earth within weeks.[8][9] This came as no surprise to amateur satellite-watchers, who had been predicting the deorbit of the satellite for some time.[10]

Hazardous materials and destruction plans
Reports indicated that the satellite could contain "hazardous materials", probably hydrazine,[9][11] and possibly beryllium,[9][12] though there was also some speculation that the satellite might have a "nuclear" power core,[13] i.e. a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Defense consultant John E. Pike dismissed this as "unlikely",[9] and Gordon Johndroe of the National Security Council also disclaimed this theory.[14]

On January 29, 2008 an Associated Press story quoted a U.S. Air Force general as saying that contingency plans were being made since intact pieces of the satellite "might re-enter into the North American area".[15]

On February 14, 2008, U.S. officials announced plans to destroy USA 193 before atmospheric reentry, stating that the intention was "saving or reducing injury to human life". They said that "1,000 pounds of frozen toxic hydrazine propellant" were on board, which if it fell to Earth "could spread a toxic cloud roughly the size of two football fields".[16] Reports suggested that the United States Navy was preparing to launch an SM-3 missile[17] from the USS Lake Erie to destroy the satellite, shortly before it entered Earth's atmosphere.[16]

Reuters reported U.S. officials as denying that the action was intended to prevent sensitive technology falling into foreign hands, and also denying that it was a response to the 2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test.[18]

Media reports
Even before the announcement that USA 193 was to be shot down, the satellite received considerably more media attention than other decaying objects. The New York Times quoted Gordon Johndroe as saying that 328 satellites "had come down" in the previous 5-year period.[14]

Catalogue IDs
Satellite Catalog Number: 29651[19]
International Designator: 2006-057A[19]

See also
Wikinews has related news:
Disabled U.S. spy satellite to fall to Earth
US military to shoot down errant spy sateliteư
P78-1

External links
SatTrackCam Leiden: USA 193 imminent decay in the news

posted February 21, 2008 02:05 PM         

WASHINGTON - Debris from an obliterated U.S. spy satellite is being tracked over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans but appears to be too small to cause damage on Earth, a senior military officer said Thursday, just hours after a Navy missile scored a direct hit on the failing spacecraft.

Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and an expert on military space technologies, told a Pentagon news conference that officials have a "high degree of confidence" that the missile launched from a Navy cruiser Wednesday night hit exactly where intended.

It was an unprecedented mission for the Navy, so extraordinary that the final go-ahead to launch the missile Wednesday was reserved for Defense Secretary Robert Gates rather than a military commander.

Cartwright estimated there was an 80 percent to 90 percent chance that the missile struck the most important target on the satellite — its fuel tank, containing 1,000 pounds of hydrazine, which Pentagon officials say could have posed a health hazard to humans if it had landed in a populated area.

Alluding to a video clip of the missile smashing into the satellite, which he showed at the news conference, Cartwright said, "We have a fireball, and given that there's no fuel (on the tip of the missile), that would indicate that that's a hydrazine fire."

The video showed the three-stage SM-3 missile launching from the USS Lake Erie at 10:26 p.m. EST, northwest of Hawaii, and of the missile's small "kill vehicle" — a non-explosive device at the tip — maneuvering into the path of the satellite and colliding spectacularly.

He said the satellite and the kill vehicle collided at a combined speed of 22,000 mph about 130 miles above Earth's surface, and that the collision was confirmed at a space operations center at 10:50 p.m. EST.

Asked about the satisfaction felt among those in the military who had organized the shootdown on short notice by modifying missile software and other components, Cartwright smiled widely.

"Yes, this was uncharted territory. The technical degree of difficulty was significant here," Cartwright said. "You can imagine that at the point of intercept there were a few cheers that went up."

He cautioned, however, that more technical analysis was required to determine for certain what debris was created and where it might go. The satellite was described as the size of a school bus and weighed about 5,000 pounds.

Unlike most spacecraft that fall out of orbit and re-enter the atmosphere, this satellite had an almost full fuel tank because it lost power and became uncontrollable shortly after it reached its initial orbit in December 2006. Cartwright said the hydrazine alone was justification for undertaking the unprecedented effort to use a Navy missile interceptor to attempt to destroy the satellite in orbit.

Cartwright said experts were still watching the debris fields and he could not yet rule out that hazardous material would fall to Earth. But he said that as of Thursday morning, debris had only been seen in the atmosphere — and none had been detected surviving re-entry. He indicated that debris appeared unlikely to pose a problem.

"Thus far we've seen nothing larger than a football," he said, referring to debris in the atmosphere spotted by radars and other sensors.

The military concluded that the missile had successfully shattered the satellite because trackers detected a fireball. Cartwright said it was unlikely that the fireball could have been caused by anything other than the hydrazine in the tank.

And Cartwright cited two other sources of information that indicate the fuel tank was hit: the appearance of a vapor cloud and the results of spectral analysis, or the study of light emissions, from devices aboard two aircraft that operate from the Pacific test range associated with the Pentagon's missile defense testing.

Debris from the satellite has started re-entry and will continue through Thursday and into Friday, Cartwright said.

The size of the debris is smaller than the Pentagon had forecast and most of the satellite's intelligence value was likely destroyed, Cartwright said. Analysts had said one of the reasons for the shootdown was that officials worried that without it, larger chunks of the satellite could fall and be recovered, opening the possibility of secret technology falling into the hands of the Chinese or others.

Gates arrived in Hawaii less than two hours before the missile was launched. His press secretary, Geoff Morrell, said Gates had a conference call during his flight with Cartwright and Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of Strategic Command. They told him that "the conditions were ripe for an attempt, and that is when the secretary gave the go-ahead to take the shot, and wished them good luck," Morrell said.

At 10:35 p.m. EST, Gates spoke to both generals again and "was informed that the mission was a success, that the missile had intercepted the decaying satellite, and the secretary was obviously very pleased to learn that," said Morrell.

The elaborate intercept may trigger worries from some international leaders, who could see it as a thinly disguised attempt to test an anti-satellite weapon — one that could take out other nations' orbiting communications and spy spacecraft.

Within hours of the reported success, China said it was on the alert for possible harmful fallout from the shootdown and urged Washington to promptly release data on the action.

"China is continuously following closely the possible harm caused by the U.S. action to outer space security and relevant countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at news conference in Beijing. "China requests the U.S. to fulfill its international obligations in real earnest and provide to the international community necessary information and relevant data in a timely and prompt way so that relevant countries can take precautions."

___

posted February 21, 2008 07:02 PM         

Picture Taken from The Sacramento Bee Newspaper this morning...

posted February 22, 2008 03:58 AM         

Why is Russia so upset?

We spent 50 million dollars to shoot down a 5 billion dollar satellite that could contaminate two football fields?

The Shuttle that exploded over Texas contained hydrazine as well ... where was the concern then?

Is hydrazine really that toxic? Maybe if you drank it, otherwise it would affect you about like breathing ammonia vapors.

We spent 5 billion dollars to launch this satellite last December, and it failed immediately? (I don't think so)

I suspect things about this situation are not what they appear to be.