A Lame Excuse to Rattle the Sabres

Bush administration officials announced yesterday that they are going to shoot down a disabled military spy satellite, and that the sole reason for this is “to avoid a spread of toxic fuel in an inhabited area.” Bullshit alert! The odds of this satellite crashing down near anywhere inhabited by people are so low, it’s not worth sweating over. The odds are far better that you’ll be struck by lightning. And besides, the “toxic fuel” they’re referring to is hydrazine, which isn’t all that dangerous. If a populated area were contaminated with hydrazine gas, at worst you’d have some people with symptoms similar to chlorine gas poisoning. This satellite shoot-down attempt is just a way for the U.S. military to test their high tech anti-satellite defenses; the toxicity risk is a lame excuse. The political implications of this action are ugly, especially considering that America got on China’s case for doing the same thing last year. And for pete’s sake, this plan poses a risk to other orbiting objects, such as the International Space Station! Granted, it’s not a very big risk, but it’s still higher than the odds that any of us would be wiped out by a single school bus-sized gas tank dropping out of orbit.

For the record, I am adamantly opposed to any combat occurring in space. If you can shoot at a satellite, it won’t be long before the satellites can shoot back.