High-powered team planned satellite strategy

To kick off the planning, the government assembled a high-security team of about 200 people — Navy scientists and missile defense experts, plus representatives of defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, as well as scientists from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Lockheed is the manufacturer of the Aegis system and Raytheon makes the SM-3 missile.

The Lake Erie, a destroyer that has participated in a dozen mostly successful tests to intercept a mock enemy missile in flight over the past six years, would take the first shot at the satellite at a distance of about 150 miles, just beyond the reach of Earth's atmosphere.

The SM-3 missile aboard the Lake Erie is equipped with a heat-seeking sensor that has been modified in order to enable it to zero in on the satellite, whose heat "signature" is smaller than that of a ballistic missile in flight.

The SM-3 costs $9.5 million, not counting its one-of-a-kind modifications. It is designed to destroy its target not by detonating an explosive nearby but by slamming directly into the satellite at high speed.

Publicly, officials have expressed confidence that they will succeed in the intercept. Privately, some say there is a rising sense of anxiety, although the consequences of failure are not what they would be in war; if the missile misses, the bus-sized satellite will tumble to Earth on its own, with very small odds that the on-board tank of hydrazine — a toxic fuel — will harm any humans.

Video   Why do Russians have guns in space? Feb. 14: Firearms are standard issue for Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station. Is it safe? WESH-TV's Dan Billow reports. NBC News Channel

David Wright, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in an interview Friday he would put the odds of a successful intercept at no better than 50 percent. And he expressed concern that debris from a successful strike could harm the other objects in relatively low orbit.

Wright said the situation presents diplomatic as well as technological challenges for Washington. The Bush administration is trying to convince other countries that the shootdown plan is not a disguised means of developing a program to kill their orbiting communications and intelligence capabilities.

The State Department has instructed U.S. diplomats around the world to inform their host governments that the operation is aimed solely at protecting people from the danger posed by the onboard fuel.

"Our role is to reassure nations around the world as to the nature of what we are trying to do," spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday. "It's an attempt to try to protect populations on the ground."

MORE FROM SPACE

Space Section Front

Water discovery fuels hope to colonize moon ‘Significant amount’ of water found on moon Geeky ‘tweeters’ to report on shuttle launch All systems go for space shuttle launch   Atlantis’ team carries the ball for NASA Get the most from a promising meteor show World not ending in 2012, says NASA Cosmic Log: Marvelous view ... and a mystery Broken urine recycler may affect space mission   Month in space: What a blast! Space Section Front   Add Space headlines to your news reader: