Navy could try satellite shootdown today

[unhappycamper]

A Standard Missile-3 launches from the cruiser Lake Erie during a joint Missile Defense Agency-Navy ballistic missile flight test in April 2007. Lake Erie will fire a modified SM-3 to shoot down a malfunctioning secret satellite that could potentially shower hazardous debris on land.


Navy could try satellite shootdown today
By Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 20, 2008 5:31:47 EST

Sailors aboard the cruiser Lake Erie could attempt the Navy’s first-of-its-kind missile shot to destroy a broken spy satellite as soon as Wednesday evening, officials said Tuesday.

The Navy will use a modified SM-3 missile, leveraging the Aegis ballistic missile defense weapons system to shoot down the malfunctioning satellite, which Defense Department officials fear could potentially shower hazardous debris on Earth. The launch could take place as early as 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

The missile does not contain a warhead — it destroys its target using the force of the impact. The SM-3 is the same missile the Navy uses in its ballistic missile defense tests, but the three missiles modified for the satellite shoot-down have software alterations designed to hit the specific target, a Navy official told reporters Tuesday afternoon in a briefing at the Pentagon. The official requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the missile shot.

The National Geospatial Agency has issued an aircraft advisory warning aviators of hazardous operations in a large area of the North Pacific Ocean near Hawaii from 9:30 p.m. EST Wednesday evening to 12:00 a.m. Thursday setting off speculation that this will be the window the Navy uses to shoot down the satellite.

Ted Molczan, a satellite watcher who has been watching the failed spy satellite closely since its launch in 2006, has calculated it will pass directly over the area specified in the notifications for about three minutes around 10:30 p.m. EST Wednesday.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/navy_satelliteshootdown_080219w/



uhc comment: As new as I can tell, the SM-3 costs around $10,000,000. The program on the other hand, costs about $5,000,000,000 --> http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/sm3-deploy.htm

FWIW, wikipedia has the same picture as the Army Times --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM-3