Posted on 02/02/2011 8:22:56 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The United States and China both used advanced missiles to blow up their own satellites in a mutual show of military strength, documents published in Thursday's Telegraph newspaper showed.
The memos, leaked by the WikiLeaks website, revealed that the US responded to China's 2007 destruction of a weather satellite by blowing up its own malfunctioning satellite in a "test" strike.
The US insisted at the time that it undertook the operation to prevent the satellite returning to earth with a toxic fuel tank which would pose a health hazard.
A leaked cable sent from the US embassy in Beijing in February 2008, the day after the US strike, revealed that China was doubtful of this explanation.
"Teng Jianqun, Deputy Secretary General of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Department, described the shoot-down as unnecessary and simply an opportunity to test the US missile defense system," the memo said.
According to the cable, Teng said the shoot-down was "an ideal opportunity to voice their (the US) objection" and proved "the US missile defense system is also an offensive system."
Another leaked cable revealed that the US embassy in China received "direct confirmation of the results of the anti-satellite test" from the US military command in the Pacific
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
More likely the crippled bird had classified hardware on it and they didn’t want to risk the possibility of pieces big enough to gain insight as to its function landing on hostile territory. So first they turned it into little pieces.
Even if it did NROL 21 survived it would of ended up in the ocean like most satellites and space stations.Never to be seen again.
You are forgetting water covers 70 percent of the planet.
I love how Bush gave the Chicoms “What For!”
I don’t think they’d want to risk the 30% chance of hitting land. Besides, there are deep-water recovery programs too ... we’ve done it, and I’m sure they’ve done it too.
The trajectory of the satellite suggested that it was going to land in water. Most of the sea are miles deep . By the time the wreckage its the sea bottom its crushed by the pressure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.