shooting for the moon, er, the satellite

Stargazers tonight will be treated to a full lunar eclipse, the last in this part of the world until 2010. Unfortunately it will still be daylight out over the Pacific when the US Navy provides a different kind of celestial display: they plan to use a missile interceptor to shoot down a doomed satellite currently spiraling towards earth with a toxic payload.

Military officials were reviewing the weather in the Pacific Ocean to determine if the operation could be launched overnight on Wednesday, as rough seas west of Hawaii prompted officials to caution that the attempt to destroy the satellite, carrying 1,000 pounds of toxic rocket fuel, might be delayed.

The goal of the mission is to prevent the fuel tank from reaching Earth and spilling its hazardous contents in a populous area. In the event that any of the hydrazine fuel falls on a populated area, the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday issued directions to community first responders on how to deal with dangerous debris from the satellite.

The word on the street is that this is REALLY about testing our overfunded and underperforming missile defense system. And perhaps sending a message to China and/or Russia about our anti-satellite capabilities (in little-noticed news a few weeks ago, the US again rejected feelers from those countries for a new outer space peace treaty).
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, naturally, denies this:

“This is about reducing the risk to human life on Earth — nothing more,” Mr. Whitman said.

Of course it is, of course it is. But perhaps worse than this latest example of government dissembling, or even the fact that we have satellites orbiting above us with tons of toxic fuel aboard, is the fact that after two decades and hundred billion dollars or so, our sea-based missile defense system still depends on calm seas. Luckily, rogue states capable of striking the United States with ballistic missiles* only attack during the calm spring months, so we shouldn't have any problems.
(*the number of "rogue states capable of striking the United States with ballistic missiles" being currently equal to zero, making the entire project a boondoggle in the first place)