WASHINGTON — Scientists said Thursday that the satellite destroyed last Friday in the first antisatellite weapons test in space provided useful information on solar activity until the moment of impact.
Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger on Thursday characterized the Solwind satellite as a ``burned-out satellite.``
But Robert MacQueen, director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, said the Pentagon ``had taken a scientifically useful thing and sacrificed it in this way.``
``The instrument was an operating satellite collecting solar
measurements; it was operating at the time of its destruction,`` McQueen said in a telephone interview.
``I can`t tell you why it was picked for destruction. It`s a puzzle to me that it was made the target. I believe the news reports that have been promulgated on the thing claimed it was inoperative. I know that to be incorrect.``
Six years ago, Solwind transported seven experiments into space for the Naval Research Laboratory, including a coronagraph that sent images to Earth about 15 times a day on the surface activity of the sun.
Scientists at the laboratory drafted a routine paper several months ago to justify continued operation of the experiment. The report cited problems with the system but stressed the importance of the satellite.
In July, the scientists learned ``the satellite would be turned off sometime after Aug. 1 but they weren`t told how,`` one source told the Washington Post, which reported on the satellite in its Friday`s editions.