Shot satellite fuels arms race fears

By Nick Childs
BBC world affairs correspondent

The satellite was shot down by a missile fired from a warship

The US military has shot down a disabled spy satellite on the edge of the atmosphere.

Washington has always insisted that it decided to carry out this operation purely on safety grounds

Officials said they feared that debris from the satellite, including toxic gas from a fuel tank, could harm people after it re-entered the atmosphere.

And the build-up to the mission has certainly had some of the hallmarks of a science fiction disaster movie.

The critics, including the Russian and Chinese governments, are not so sure, and have argued that what the Americans have done is bound to stoke up fears of an arms race in space.

The US criticised the Chinese when they carried out an anti-satellite test just over a year ago.

Its complaint was that it was a deliberate military move, and that it was shrouded in secrecy. Now, the Americans have used a weapons system that is part of their missile defence programme.

Whatever the result, the operation was always going to yield valuable information, both in terms of missile defence and possible future anti-satellite operations.

It has not helped the US's public relations cause that the Bush administration opposes a Russian-Chinese draft treaty to ban weapons in space - although many experts see the proposal as flawed, and point out that the US is probably more reliant on the use of satellites than any other country.

Washington says it is in favour of the free use of space, but against limiting its military options.

Both Washington and Moscow experimented with anti-satellite weapons in the Cold War, and the US shot down a satellite in a test 22 years ago.