Home pagePress CenterIn the Media James Lewis, director of the CSIS Technology and Public Policy Program, was quoted by the USA Today, "U.S. to Shoot Down Falling Spy Satellite."
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James Lewis, director of the CSIS Technology and Public Policy Program, was quoted by the USA Today, "U.S. to Shoot Down Falling Spy Satellite."
As early as next week, the Pentagon plans to lob a missile at a satellite falling toward Earth, in an unprecedented effort to keep the satellite's toxic fuel from inflicting public injury or death, federal officials said Thursday.
The United States has never shot down a spacecraft with a missile, said Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
However, satellites carrying the same type of toxic fuel fall to Earth all the time, said Jim Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. Also, he added, no one has ever been hurt by falling satellite parts, mostly because so much of the Earth's surface is water or thinly populated.
"The risk of this is very low, and that leads to the question, why bother?" Lewis said. "This isn't going to popular" with other nations.
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