AMERICA鈥橲 spy satellites are not in the orbits the Pentagon says they are,
according to a respected space analyst. The errors will add to concerns over
George W. Bush鈥檚 plans to place weapons in space. If today鈥檚 satellite orbits
cannot be trusted, opponents reason, how will we verify the numbers of future
space-based anti-missile lasers and anti-satellite weapons?
The 1975 UN Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space
requires nations to maintain a registry of objects they launch, and to provide
the UN with copies. But Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has
found several discrepancies in the UN data. 鈥淪uspicious mistakes date back as
early as the 1970s,鈥� he told 91av.
鈥淭he US is not in compliance. The 1989 launch of military satellite 1989-72A
was never registered with the UN,鈥� McDowell says. And the discrepancies have
become worse recently: correct orbits are listed for only two of the ten
classified satellites the US launched in 1999 and 2000, he says. McDowell says
three listed orbits are not those the satellites finally slotted into, while
another four are wrong for other reasons, such as listing the orbit of another
object launched at the same time. The remaining discrepancy is simply a
typographical error.
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The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs has confirmed that the Pentagon鈥檚 data
is incorrect, but says it can鈥檛 do anything about it. A spokesman for US Space
Command, which tracks nearly 9000 orbiting objects from its base deep inside
Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, says the US 鈥渋s in full compliance with the
convention鈥�. According to the treaty, each nation can determine 鈥渢he content of
each registry and the conditions under which it is maintained鈥�, he says. He
offered no comment on the orbital discrepancies.
Unfortunately, the UN registry relies on a treaty that allows long delays in
providing data, and does not require nations to give final orbits. 鈥淚n fact,
they mostly provide only the initial orbit,鈥� said Petr Lala, research chief for
the UN office, which is aware of McDowell鈥檚 findings.
The UN鈥檚 outer space convention was intended to identify the owners of all
satellites, in case any posed hazards or caused damage. Governments want to know
the orbits of other objects so they can be sure no one is trying to intercept
their own satellites, says Charles Vick of the Federation of American Scientists
in Washington DC.
Although US Space Command says its actions fall within the letter of the
treaty, McDowell says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 certainly violating the spirit of an international
肠辞尘尘颈迟尘别苍迟.鈥�
Vick suspects that the Pentagon hopes to make it harder to evade surveillance
from space by concealing the orbits of its spy satellites鈥攂ut Russia and
China have their own tracking systems, and amateur astronomers post orbits on
the Web.
鈥淚t鈥檚 silly. These things are among the brightest objects in the
sky,鈥� says John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington-based policy
group. He says the Pentagon has grown arrogant, believing 鈥渨e won the cold war,
we can do whatever we want鈥�.