Most of you are probably familiar with this story by now.  The U.S.
launched a missile to destroy a derelict spy satellite.  The claimed
purpose was to destroy a tank of toxic hydrazine that might have
survived re-entry:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7256741.stm

In spite of the denials in the story, I kind of suspect this was
intended to show the Chinese that they aren't the only ones with an
anti-satellite capability.  That's my pet theory, anyway.

5 responses total.

They also didn't wany any major pieces surviving to fall into the "wrong
hands". Some big pieces from the Columbia disaster did survive reentry. 
Perhaps the shoot-down was to make the pieces smaller and more widely 
dispersed, and hence harder to reverse-engineer. 

That crossed my mind as well.

It also occurred to me that it might be a PR move to convince people 
the national missile defense system will work.

Of coursee, they had months to track the satellite and determine its 
orbital perameters to high precision. They would not have that time if it 
were an incoming missile.

Yes, but that's an easy point to gloss over when talking to the
uninformed public.

re #3
I don't think this is about Reagan's SDI as much as it is about countering
China's ability to trash spy and GPS satellites with debris.

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