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29-451: USA-193, also known as NRO launch 21 (NROL-21 or simply L-21), was an American military reconnaissance satellite launched on December 14, 2006. The USA-193 was owned by the NRO and its precise function and purpose are classified. Several websites speculate that the satellite was probably a high-resolution radar satellite intended to produce images for the NRO. This argument is additionally supported by

58-538: A 244 km × 261 km orbit, an accelerating drop of approximately 10 km since the previous week. On 20 February 2008, at 1:00 p.m. EST Secretary of Defense Gates, with consultation of the White House, approved the mission. The launch happened at 10:26 p.m. EST and the collision with the satellite happened a few minutes later. On 25 February 2008, the Department of Defense announced that based on debris analysis, that

87-561: A danger if the tank did not explode on re-entry. On 14 February 2008 General James Cartwright , the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a public announcement that the U.S. intended to shoot down USA-193. In this announcement he laid out several criteria into when, how and why the satellite would be shot down. The major objective was to reduce the risk to space, air and terrestrial platforms. He explained that they would wait for

116-719: A dispute between the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Air Force as to whether a combined optical/radar reconnaissance satellite (the CIA proposal) or a radar-only one (the USAF proposal) should be developed was resolved in favor of the USAF. Lacrosse uses synthetic aperture radar as its prime imaging instrument. It is able to see through cloud cover and also has some ability to penetrate soil , though there have been more powerful instruments deployed in space for this specific purpose . Early versions are believed to have used

145-521: A fishing vessel in distress while operating in the South China Sea . On 16 February 2007, Russell was awarded the 2006 Battle "E" award. On 21 February 2008, Russell participated, along with USS  Lake Erie and USS  Decatur , in the interception and destruction of the dying US satellite US 193 . Between 17 and 21 May 2008, Russell participated in Exercise KhunjarHaad,

174-538: A matter of months. Discussions around the possibility of destroying USA-193 began as early as December 2007. However, Operation Burnt Frost started on 4 January 2008, when President Bush ordered the military to destroy the satellite. On 27 January 2008, information about the orbital decay of USA-193 was given to the media. Several of the initial reports projected that the satellite would return to Earth sometime in late February, early March. Additionally, these reports suggested that likely no action would need to be taken as

203-638: A multi-national exercise held in the Gulf of Oman . Other participating warships included the Surcouf , the British frigate HMS  Montrose , the British fleet replenishment tanker RFA  Wave Knight , and four other coalition ships conducted air defense; surface warfare operation; visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) ; and joint gunnery exercises, which focused on joint interoperability training and proficiency. In June 2008, Russell rescued about 70 people from

232-550: A target at a much higher altitude, which resulted in the creation of debris which continues to pose a potential hazard to other spacecraft. Finally, U.S. officials again affirmed that the mission's intent was to preserve human life. Lacrosse (satellite) Lacrosse or Onyx was a series of terrestrial radar imaging reconnaissance satellites operated by the United States National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). While not officially confirmed by

261-553: The 2018 Hindi movie Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran involves a Lacrosse satellite as the US intelligence eye in the sky. USS Russell (DDG-59) USS Russell (DDG-59) is an Arleigh Burke -class destroyer in the United States Navy . She is the second ship of the USN to carry the name Russell and is named for Rear Admiral John Henry Russell and his son, Commandant of

290-527: The Earth in the past but never warranted such “extraordinary measures”. Furthering this notion, others have speculated that the toxic gas would have likely not survived re-entry regardless, and even if it had that the risk would be extremely small. These speculations have led many to believe that Operation Burnt Frost was in response to China's ASAT test on 11 January 2007 and to fear this would begin another " space race ". Unnamed U.S. officials continued to deny that

319-473: The Marine Corps John Henry Russell, Jr. In May 2004, Russell departed for a four-month deployment along with several ships including USCGC  Mellon , USS  Salvor , USS  Fort McHenry , and USS  McCampbell . The deployment was centered on an annual exercise called Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 2004. On 15 April 2006, Russell provided aid to

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348-507: The NRO or the Government of the United States prior to 2008, there was widespread evidence pointing to its existence, including one NASA website. In July 2008, the NRO itself declassified the existence of its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation. According to former Director of Central Intelligence Admiral Stansfield Turner , Lacrosse had its origins in 1980 when

377-466: The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System ( TDRSS ) to relay imagery to a ground station at White Sands , New Mexico . There are some indications that other relay satellites may now be available for use with Lacrosse. The name Lacrosse is used to refer to all variants, while Onyx is sometimes used to refer to the three newer units. Unit costs (including launch) in 1990 dollars are estimated to be in

406-447: The United States "has no plans to adapt any technology from this extraordinary effort for use on any current or planned weapon system." U.S. officials pointed out that the U.S. had no reason to prove that it could shoot down a satellite, as the U.S. had already publicly done so in the 1980s. Another key difference pointed out by General Cartwright was that this intercept happened at a much lower altitude, whereas China's ASAT weapon destroyed

435-411: The cruiser USS Lake Erie (primary) and the destroyer USS  Decatur (backup) sailed several hundred miles northwest of Hawaii to their rendezvous point. The Lake Erie was chosen because she was the U.S. Navy's most experienced ballistic-missile killer. The destroyer USS  Russell was also a backup but remained in port at Pearl Harbor. By 19 February 2008, the satellite had decayed down to

464-465: The fact that the satellite used a similar inclination to that of a Lacrosse Radar Satellite . Lacrosse is a terrestrial radar imaging reconnaissance satellite operated by the NRO. It utilizes a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to acquire high resolution images regardless of cloud cover. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1 p.m. PST aboard the Delta II space launch system. This marked

493-714: The first launch conducted by the United Launch Alliance since it assumed the program from Boeing Integrated Defense Systems on December 1, 2006. The successful launch represented a record 49 successful consecutive operational launches for the Defense Department. While the launch was successful, ground controllers lost control over the USA-193 satellite shortly after it was established on its orbit, and were unable to regain control. The satellite itself posed minimal risk of falling and causing damage. The satellite's hydrazine

522-626: The flexibility of this operation the government established that the U.S. Navy and the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) would be the best option. It had the ability to be a mobile asset and by utilizing the SM-3 (Standard Missile 3) it would have the ability to reach the necessary altitude. In addition the choice to use Aegis BMD was in large part due to its successful track record, in which 13 of 15 attempts to shoot down ballistic missiles were successful. General Cartwright stated that if

551-512: The objective of destroying the hydrazine tank and reduction, if not elimination, of the risk to people on Earth was achieved. That test produced 174 pieces of orbital debris that were cataloged by the U.S. military. While most of the debris re-entered the Earth's atmosphere within a few months, two pieces lasted slightly longer because they were thrown into higher orbits. The final tracked piece of USA-193 debris (COSPAR 2006-057GH, SATCAT 35425) re-entered 20 months later on 28 October 2009. Following

580-574: The operation, China and Russia criticized the U.S. operation. The destruction of USA-193 came just weeks after Russia had drafted a new treaty to ban space weapons which was backed by China at a UN-sponsored forum. This treaty would ban the use of weapons against satellites or other spacecraft. This prompted the Russians to accuse the United States of using the hydrazine gas as a cover-up to test an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon . They claimed that several countries’ satellites which used toxic fuel have crashed into

609-607: The range of US$ 0.5 to 1.0 billion. It had been anticipated that the Lacrosse satellites would be replaced by the radar component of the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA). The severe program problems encountered by FIA in the early 2000s (decade) led to a plan to off-load radar reconnaissance to the Space Based Radar , later simplified to Space Radar, with initial launch anticipated around 2015. This program itself

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638-403: The satellite came down in one piece that nearly one half of the spacecraft would survive re-entry, which would spread the toxic cloud of hydrazine gas roughly over the size of two football fields. This potential risk seemed high enough to prompt the government and military to act as he stated “the regret factor of acting clearly outweighed the regret factor of not acting". Days prior to the launch

667-463: The satellite or any debris would have a small chance of hitting any inhabited area. However, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, did mention that the U.S. government was monitoring the satellite's decay and that it was examining different options to “mitigate any damage”. Also, four anonymous U.S. Officials did report that the satellite, which never became operational, would have toxic rocket fuel (hydrazine fuel) that could pose

696-457: The satellites a complete view of the Earth 's surface, including the north and south poles . Lacrosse 5 appears to differ somewhat from the previous four satellites. As determined by amateur observers, there are subtle differences in its orbit, and its color is somewhat whiter than the distinct red-orange tint of the earlier ones. Most strikingly, it sometimes fades from brightness to invisibility within

725-513: The shooting down of the satellite was in response to China's ASAT test one year prior, or that they were trying to protect classified satellite technology. To promote transparency, the U.S. delegation to the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space stated that after the operation concluded, the special modifications made to the two remaining missiles and three naval vessels were removed and that

754-450: The shuttle to land , so the potential harm to the shuttle would not be a factor. Next they wanted to wait until the satellite was close to re-entry, this would limit the amount of space debris created. Finally, they did not want to let the satellite enter the Earth's atmosphere because of its non-aerodynamic characteristics, which would make it extremely hard to intercept. He suggested that these criteria gave them an eight-day window. To meet

783-412: The space of a few seconds while still in full sunlight. (Amateur observers call this rapid fade its "disappearing trick", although it appears to be an accidental phenomenon due to the design of the craft and not a deliberate stealth feature.) The story of the 1994 Andy Sidaris film The Dallas Connection involves a series of codes necessary to control a Lacrosse reconnaissance satellite. The plot of

812-629: Was axed by Congress late 2008. The launch of NROL-41 (USA 215) in September 2010 has all orbital characteristics of a radar remote sensing platform (see FIA ) and could be the first of a Lacrosse follow-up program. Its orbit is a retrograde version of the "frozen" Lacrosse orbit, the choice for a retrograde orbit itself indicating a SAR role. Five Lacrosse spacecraft have been launched, with none currently in orbit . The Lacrosse move in orbital planes either 68° or 57° inclined. These orbital inclinations of 68° and 57°, combined with their altitude give

841-498: Was claimed to pose environmental risks due to its toxicity though no hydrazine pollution has ever been recorded due to a satellite reentry. In 2008, President George W. Bush determined that the satellite's fuel could potentially cause environmental damage if released, and asked the United States Strategic Command to destroy it. From inception to the successful interception of the satellite, the timeline spanned only

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