Last night many folks were looking skyward to watch a rare lunar eclipse, but the Pentagon was anxiously looking skyward for another reason: to see if their attempt to destroy a crippled satellite was successful. No need to worry, though, as the Pentagon announced shortly after 10:30 PM EST that they had successfully destroyed a malfunctioning National Reconaissance Office (NRO) satellite using a ship-launched missile on the first try. This was only the second time in U.S. history (see my blog post from 2/15/08) that the military destroyed a satellite in orbit. While many in the general media were congratulating the Navy for a job well done, believe me, the Navy was just part of a much larger team which probably included many different organizations in the Pentagon, including the Air Force, NRO and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The modified Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) was launched from the Navy ship USS Lake Erie located in the Pacific Ocean.

Some may have been surprised that the satellite was hit on the first try, but in my opinion the success just validates the billions the U.S. has spent on ballistic missile defense research over the last 25 years or so. (Tagged with the term
"Star Wars" when President Reagan proposed such a defense system in the 1980's.)  Hitting a satellite the size of a school bus, in a very predictable orbit, should be relatively easier than hitting a small warhead on a unknown ballistic trajectory, which the MDA has been diligently working on.  The SM-3 was developed under the ballistic missile defense program, and it probably already had some very sophisticated sensors for homing in on a fast moving object. The SM-3 used for this kill did not carry an explosive war head, as the kinetic energy of the two vehicles impacting should have been more than enough to destroy the satellite. Now that the U.S. proved they have the technology for destroying a satellite in orbit, the only question remaining concerns the impact debris. It will several weeks before we find out if the majority of the debris has burned up on reentry, or if some will remain in orbit to potentially be a hazard to other satellites or spacecraft.

On a side note, it will be interesting to see if any amateur pictures of the satellite explosion or resulting debris field surface in the next few days. These days some amateur astronomers, located all over the world, have pretty sophisticated telescopes and camera equipment, so it wouldn't surprise me to see some interesting pictures of this event pop up on the web.