Questions deepen over satellite-killer test

Dozens of pieces of debris tracked
U.S. tracking systems have provided additional information about the trajectories of the spacecraft during the test, and of the orbital debris that resulted from the test, Oberg said.

"More thorough analysis no longer suggests that the target satellite might have maneuvered before the attack in order to line up with the interceptor," he said in an e-mail. "All indications now are that the missile was launched toward the north and closed in from ahead and slightly to the side of the target's path."

The impact point would have been in range of radars at the Chinese main space center at Jiuquan, as well as of Russian missile defense radars in Irkutsk and other Siberian sites.

Oberg said the North American Aerospace Defense Command has issued the post-impact orbits of several dozen fragments, and they testify to the high energy of the impact. All of the fragments have one end of their orbits near 530 miles (850 kilometers) — where the impact occurred. The other ends of their orbits range from as high as 2,200 miles to as low as 100 miles. Additional fragments were likely produced with even lower orbits, but these would have burned up in the atmosphere almost immediately.

International debate
The test adds a new twist to a years-long debate over space weaponization.

Over the years, Russia and China have sided with each other to seek an international treaty banning weapons in space. The United States has opposed such a treaty, and in October the Bush administration issued a new national space policy advocating "freedom of action" in space.

The alleged test is said to have destroyed the satellite by hitting it with a kill vehicle launched aboard a ballistic missile — a type of attack that would pose a new threat to U.S. spy satellites and military communication satellites.

The United States has been researching satellite-killers of its own, experimenting with lasers on the ground that could disable, disrupt and destroy spacecraft. China's activities over the past week could be seen as pressuring Washington to reconsider its own military space plans.

U.S. allies expressed their own concerns about China's actions on Friday:

• Japan: "We must use space peacefully," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. "We are asking the Chinese government about the test." Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso criticized Beijing for failing to give advance notice. He also said debris from the test could scatter in the atmosphere. "We told China that we doubt if we could call this a peaceful use," Aso said.
• Britain: A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said diplomats had complained to their counterparts in Beijing about the lack of consultation. They also relayed their concern that debris from the test would strike other satellites orbiting the Earth, said Blair's official spokesman. Blair's spokesman said Britain did not believe China's test contravened international law. "However, we believe that this development of technology and the manner in which this test was conducted is inconsistent with the spirit of China's statement to the U.N. and other bodies on the military use of space," the spokesman said.
• Australia: Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his government opposed the test and had called upon Beijing's ambassador for an explanation. "Our concern about this is that to have a capacity to shoot down satellites in outer space is not consistent with ... the traditional Chinese position of opposition to the militarization of outer space," he told reporters. "So we've asked the Chinese for an explanation as to what this may mean," Downer said, adding that so far Chinese officials, including the ambassador in Canberra, said they were not aware of the test.

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