US to blast satellite

United States will have the chance to shoot down a disabled US spy satellite from on Wednesday, after the space shuttle Atlantis ends its current mission.

The Pentagon said on Thursday the Navy would try to shoot down the satellite before it enters the atmosphere, using a modified tactical missile from a ship in the Pacific, to avert a potentially deadly leak of toxic gas from its fuel tank.

Each missile costs about US$10 million (S$14.3 million) but the US government did not yet have an estimate of the cost of the shootdown operation. The space shuttle is scheduled to land on Wednesday at 9:06 am EST (10.06pm Singapore time) at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

Washington strongly criticized China for shooting down an old weather satellite in a test in January 2007. Neither the United States nor Russia have conducted an anti-satellite operation since the 1980s.

The State Department said it would try to reassure other nations the operation was not a statement of intentions about international arms treaties or anti-satellite weapons. The Pentagon's mission would be 'to try to protect populations on the ground' and take place when the satellite is about 250 km from earth.

China's operation was designed specifically as a test against a satellite and left a large amount of debris in orbit at a higher altitude that could affect the ability of others to put satellites into space.