Debris from out-of-control U.S. spy satellite likely to hit Earth

William Atkins
Sunday, 27 January 2008 20:32

Science - Space

From the NASA Headquarters website “2006 Worldwide Space Launches”, this launch of USA 193/NROL-21 took place on December 14, 2006, which substantiates the earlier mentioned U.S. Air Force date also of December 14th.

In addition, from Gunter’s Space Page: “A few weeks after launch reports emerged, that ground stations were unable to communicate with an expensive experimental U.S. spy satellite launched last year by the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Efforts were said to be continuing to reestablish communication with the classified satellite, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but "the prognosis is not great at this point," said the defense official, who asked not to be identified. The official said the problems were substantial and involved multiple systems, adding that U.S. officials were working to reestablish contact with the satellite because of the importance of the new technology it was meant to test and demonstrate. Another source said the satellite had been described to him as "a comprehensive failure”.”

If this satellites is the one in question, then it may contain dangerous fuels such as hydrazine, a commonly used fuel used to thrust satellites while they are in space. Hydrazine is a toxic colorless chemical, with an ammonia-like odor, which would pose a definite serious risk to anyone coming into contact with it.

The satellite might also contain the hazardious material beryllium, a steel gray metal that is often used in such satellites and other instruments within the aerospace industry. The brittle, yet lightweight metal—with chemical symbol Be—is primarily used as a hardening agent in alloys.

Debris from the breakup of the satellite as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere could pose safety and health risks to any populated areas in which it lands.

For the most part, little information is leaking out because the status of this military spy satellite is classified as secret.

Based on the little information known at this time, experts in the field are assuming that the satellite weighs around 20,000 pounds (about 9,000 kilograms)—what they are describing as the "size of a small bus." They are comparing its possible debris field as about ten times less than the debris field created by the disintegration of the NASA space shuttle Columbia as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on February 1, 2003.

Currently, government officials have expressed concerns that such an uncontrolled descent toward Earth could result in secretive materials landing on foreign lands, whose leaders shouldn't know our secrets, along with the threat of dangerous debris landing in heavily populated areas.

With little additional information being publicly released, sources are stating the appropriate government agencies are analyzing the trajectory data of the disabled satellite to get a better handle as to when it will actually begin its final orbit around Earth and where pieces of it will eventually land on Earth.

Video of the news event is available on the MSNBC website: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22857051/.

[Note from author: The article is based on bits and pieces gathered on the Internet from reliable and maybe not-so reliable sources. Please take heed that until more information is known, such information is speculative at best. As the timeframe approaches for this satellite to deorbit, the U.S. government will no doubt inform its citizens and/or officials in other countries that might be affected by the debris falling from this uncontrolled spy satellite.--Atkins]