Team at New Jersey air base ready to chase satellite's hazardous remnants

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
With haz-mat suits at the ready, a quick response team stood on alert to head anyplace on Earth that the pieces of a lame satellite shot down by the military might fall. The recovery squad, dubbed Operation Burnt Frost, is made up of military and civilian personnel from at least 15 government agencies including the Air Force, Coast Guard, and Environmental Protection Agency. The unit was assembled in less than a week with the goal of protecting people from remnants of the bus-sized satellite, especially the potentially hazardous fuel tank. "This is an incredible effort," Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey C. Horne, who is in charge of the team, said Thursday. "What we're doing is to make sure that we're ready as soon as we're called." A Navy cruiser blasted the errant satellite with a missile Wednesday night. Officials said the strike appeared to have accomplished its main goal of exploding a tank of toxic fuel 209 kilometers above the Pacific Ocean.