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US missile reduces toxic satellite to ball-sized chunks
2008-02-21
The missile that struck a rogue US spy satellite in space carrying toxic fuel reduced it to football-sized chunks, and the Pentagon said it had a "high degree of confidence" its fuel tank was destroyed, officials said Thursday. General James Cartwright told reporters it would be 24-48 hours before a full confirmation would be available on the fuel tank. The Defense Department has a "high degree of confidence we hit the tank" but "we can't say for sure," at this time, he said. A senior Pentagon official earlier had said the missile appeared to have struck the fuel tank containing hydrazine, which could have leaked toxic gas over a wide area if it had survived re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. "The intent here was to preserve human life ... it was the hydrazine we were after," Cartwright, who is vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said rejecting Moscow's suggestion it was an anti-missile test. "This is a modified system, this isn't a missile defense system," he said. "The missile impacted the satellite in the area of the tank, we have a cloud that appears to be hydrazine," he said. "It would have been irresponsible for us not to try to remove this risk, that's what moved us." So far the United States has not seen debris touch the Earth's surface he added.
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