US shoots down rogue satellite, Russia cries foul

SATELLITE DESTROYED: Russia and China expressed concern over US action, saying the operation could be used as a cover.

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New Delhi: The US has brought down its rogue spy satellite orbiting 130 miles above the Earth. The Pentagon said the operation was to destroy the satellite's potentially toxic fuel tank which could harm humans.

The missile, fired from a naval warship in the Pacific, hit the satellite within three minutes of its launch.

An earlier attempt was aborted due to bad weather. More than half the debris is expected to fall within four to five hours and most of it is expected to burn up before it hits the water or ground.

However, Russia and China expressed concern over the US action, suggesting that the operation could be used as a cover to "attempt to move the arms race into space".

It has also been suggested that the Pentagon wanted to destroy the satellite to prevent part of the classified spacecraft from falling into the hands of its rival powers.

Some space experts have also questioned Pentagon's justification for the mission. They say it was unlikely the satellite would have caused any harm.

Officials, though, say without intervention, the satellite would have fallen to Earth on its own in early March and since it malfunctioned immediately after it was launched in December 2006, it had a full tank — about 1,000 pounds — of frozen, toxic hydrazine propellant.

Vice Chairman, US Joint Chief of Staff, Gen James Cartwright said, "The amount that we forecast, the 2800 pounds of re-entry, is substansially less than what is available out there. The pieces are substancially smaller right now and we are seeing nothing bigger than a football. So by all indications, we are on a positive path that this was a successful intercept."

Meanwhile, NASA scientist Amitabha Ghose says fragments of the destroyed satellite do not pose a threat.

"The satellite has probably been broken into many pieces and as these pieces come down through the atmosphere, they will be heated up and will be destroyed. If debris comes down, it will be a very small fraction of amount of the material shot down. In satellite business these things keep on happening, so when it comes you have to deal with it," he said.