Translated material
Space interception
The Russian military caught the US trying to test anti-satellite weapons
Following the idea of placing the third position area of the American missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic , which became a stumbling block in relations between Russia and the United States, another reason for disagreement between the two powers has appeared. This is the American reconnaissance satellite USA-193, which was launched back in December 2006, and in August last year it lost control and was officially declared an emergency. According to the calculations of the US military, around March 6, the satellite should enter the dense layers of the Earth's atmosphere and partially burn up in them. The satellite has a significant mass - about the size of a small bus. Some fragments of the device with a total weight of 1270 kg may fall to the surface of the planet. In addition, 450 kg of hydrazine-based fuel will fall on earthlings. When dropped, this fuel will turn into a poisonous gas. A satellite can fall anywhere on the planet, with the exception of the polar zones.The Americans prepared to shoot down their falling and therefore dangerous spacecraft with an anti-missile missile. On February 14, President George W. Bush authorized the use of Aegis missile defense systems for this purpose. The United States cannot yet talk about the likelihood of defeating USA-193; just in case, they have specially modified three Standard-3 anti-missile missiles - the main one and two spare ones, costing $10 million each. The missile was to be launched from the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Airy in the Pacific Ocean.
At first glance, everything is logical. And although the US military assures that the action to destroy the satellite will be a one-off, that such an operation will not violate any US obligations or international law, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense are confident that the US is going to test a new type of strategic weapon under this pretext. The Russians' arguments and logic are as follows. Over the many years of space activity in orbit, emergency situations have arisen more than once with satellites from different countries; these devices also had toxic fuel and fell to Earth. However, these cases did not call for such extraordinary measures.
In the USA-193 story, Russia would like to know what other dangerous substances may be on the satellite, whether there are radioactive materials there - in particular, a nuclear power source. Moreover, solar panels are not visible on this satellite. And the destruction of the satellite may be an attempt to hide its contents. Or, at best, an attempt to evade financial responsibility - in accordance with international conventions, the United States is responsible for material damage caused by the fall of the satellite.
The questions don't end there. The corrosive Russian military is demanding to determine whether the planned interception of a satellite by an anti-missile missile will cause the device to deorbit, and how this operation may affect the nature of space activities of mankind in general, in particular manned astronautics (although the crew of the International Space Station stated that they are not worried about impending interception). The Russians claim that communications, navigation, weather support, and disaster warning systems will be at risk. The Americans did not provide exact calculations. Meanwhile, earthlings have experience of joint actions in such emergency situations. For example, the Mir orbital station was removed from orbit and then sunk.
But most importantly, the Russian military has the impression that the United States is trying to use the situation to test its currently deployed anti-missile missiles in anti-satellite mode and quality. “Otherwise, why equip interceptor missiles with telemetry equipment to test these same missiles?” - the Russian General Staff wonders. And they draw an unequivocal conclusion: preparations are underway for classic tests of anti-satellite weapons. And they recall the noisy campaign launched just over a year ago after China intercepted its weather satellite. The US then interpreted China's efforts as an attempt to create space weapons, contributing to a dangerous increase in debris in orbit. And in terms of the conditions of the American and Chinese experiments, they are very close, to say the least. This means, the Russian General Staff believes, there is again a desire to move the arms race into outer space.
Let us recall that the Aegis missile defense systems installed on cruisers constitute the first echelon of destruction of spacecraft, including primarily Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles in low, up to 300 km, orbits. The second echelon is ground-based missile defense systems in Alaska, California and, as planned, in Poland (hence the name - the third position area). Ironically, the satellite debris may fall on Poland. The Pentagon officially warned the allies about this. Following the deployment of strategic missile defense facilities, the United States will test how the missile defense system works via satellite. The Russian military's fears are also growing because the United States has long shied away from negotiations on banning or at least limiting the arms race in outer space.
The Russian military is tracking the spacecraft, but the trajectory of its likely fall, they say, is “still unclear.” The Russian side intends to raise the topic of the falling satellite at the Russian-American high-level meeting on strategic stability, which is scheduled for the twentieth of February in Budapest. The parties will probably return to the recent joint proposal between Russia and China to ban the deployment of weapons in space. Although, experts admit, the proposal is not ideal, since the proposed ban applies only to weapons in orbit and does not apply to ground-based anti-satellite weapons like the one the Pentagon is planning to test.