U.S. has high confidence it hit satellite fuel tank

By Andrew Gray

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Thursday it was very confident that a Navy missile hit the toxic fuel tank of a defunct U.S. spy satellite, which could have caused harm if it had fallen to Earth intact.

The spectacular and unprecedented strike took place over the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday after a U.S. Navy cruiser launched a missile as the satellite sped through space at more than 27,400 kph, officials said.

"This was uncharted territory. The technical degree of difficulty was significant here," said Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"You can imagine, at the point of intercept, there were a few cheers that went up in operations centers and on that ship," Cartwright told reporters at the Pentagon.

Both Russia and China had expressed concern ahead of the mission, with Moscow suggesting it could be used as cover to test a new space weapon.

But Washington said the only reason for the mission was to prevent harm to humans from the tank of hazardous hydrazine fuel on the bus-sized satellite, which was expected to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere within the next couple of weeks.

"We're very confident that we hit the satellite. We also have a high degree of confidence that we got the tank," Cartwright said, putting the chances that the tank had been breached at around 90 percent.

He said a fireball in video images of the strike, a vapor cloud that formed and indications of hydrazine in the air all suggested the tank had been shattered. But he said it could take another 24 to 48 hours to know for sure.