ST. JOHN'S, NFLD. - All offshore oil platforms on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland are being evacuated before a U.S. missile test that could shower the area with debris. Offshore oil platform.The U.S. air force will launch a Titan IV rocket on Monday from Cape Canaveral. The debris – including a 10-tonne solid rocket booster – is expected to fall near the Hibernia platform.
Non-essential workers are being removed on Thursday, while remaining staff will leave over the weekend.
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams said he and federal officials are attempting to persuade the U.S. air force to delay the launch of the rocket, or to change its trajectory.
"As soon as we were aware of it, we got on to it immediately," Williams told reporters Thursday afternoon.
The evacuation involves the gravity-based structure at Hibernia and the floating platform at Terra Nova.
The drill rig GSF Grand Banks, which is working at the White Rose field, is being towed from the area.
The Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board said Hibernia's operators have been advised that debris may fall within about 27 kilometres of the platform.
Fred Way, the chief executive officer of the petroleum board, described the evacuation as "precautionary."
About 245 people work at a time at Hibernia, which is located about 350 kilometres east of St. John's.
Another 80 people work at the Terra Nova platform in a shift.
Oops. I spoke too soon. The story's been changed, and the launch postponed. Macleans.ca has more:
"This just simply can't happen," said Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams, who was briefed on the problem Thursday by the provincial offshore petroleum board.Williams said Hibernia, the Terra Nova development and the drilling rig Glomar Grand Banks are all in the area.
"I don't think the Americans were aware, or had really thought it through, as to how close this was to the Hibernia platform," Williams said following two urgent phone conversations with Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and a call to Frank McKenna, Canada's new ambassador to Washington.
"That has to be the case. Why would they drop a piece of space debris out of the sky and take a chance that it happens to be 15 miles in the right spot? If it's off, it could obviously have very serious consequences."
...
But the shutdowns could have had a significant economic impact, taking up to two weeks to return to maximum capacity again, Williams said, at a cost of $250 million.
What the devil is the Air Force playing at? Why on Earth is a Titan IV passing over that area in the first place? Is the DoD putting a satellite into a polar orbit?
A site called Spaceflight Now, which keeps track of launches and suchlike, indicates that the rocket is a Titan 4B, launching something for the National Reconnaissance Office:
Launch period: Exact time is classified but liftoff will happen sometime between 8 and 10:30 p.m. EDT Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.The Lockheed Martin Titan 4B, known as B-30, will launch a classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The launch will be run by the U.S. Air Force. Launch delayed from Dec. 18, 2001 and July 3, 2002. It was then transferred from the original launch site of Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, to Cape Canaveral. Delayed from October 2004. Delayed from Feb. 20 due to payload issue. Delayed from April 6. Delayed from April 10 due to ground equipment troubles. [April 5]
Seems very likely the satellite is destined for a polar orbit, then. The original launch site, Vandenberg AFB, as far as I know, just does ICBM tests and polar launches. It's probably quite a large satellite, as the Titan 4B is a heavy-lift booster. Could be a weather satellite, I suppose. As it's the NRO, it could also be some form of spy satellite. As it's classified, one can't help but suspect the latter.
This probably isn't a big deal at all, apart from the brainless fuck-up of dumping debris near something important...But given the current regime's interest in weaponising space, it might be prudent to keep a close eye on such things.
UPDATE (4/10): Not a polar orbit. Probably something like 57 degrees inclination. The mission was originally intended to launch from Vandenberg...Perhaps it was destined for a different orbit before? Or perhaps you can get it to the same orbit from either place. I suppose I could try to find out, but...I'm lazy.
....Okay, I checked. Titan rockets have been launched from Vandenberg, putting reconnaissance satellites into an orbit with inclination 57 degrees.
Posted by aloysius at April 07, 2005 02:34 PM | TrackBack |