Washington’s Missile Defense Agency has earmarked $68 million for what some believe is the first step for putting weapons in space, ABC News reported Tuesday.
Known as the Near Field Infrared Experiment or NFIRE satellite, it is primarily designed to gather data on exhaust plumes from rockets launched from earth.
As a result, military officials say the $68 million item in the 2005 budget is a defensive, rather than offensive project.
But, critics point out, the satellite will also contain a smaller “kill vehicle,” a projectile that takes advantage of the kinetic energy of objects traveling through low-Earth orbit (which move at several times the speed of a bullet) to disable or destroy an oncoming missile or another orbiting satellite.
As one senior government official and defense expert, who requested anonymity, said, “We’re crossing the Rubicon into space weaponization.”
