RUSSIAN air defence authorities said parts of a Chinese spy satellite fell into the north east Pacific Ocean early yesterday morning, contradicting US findings that it had probably come down in the south Atlantic.
A spokesman for Anti Aircraft Defence forces said the FSW-1 satellite had fallen to Earth at 6.25 a.m. Moscow time (3.25 Irish time). He gave no further details.
His information contradicted a report by the US Space Command that parts of the spy satellite re entered the Earth's atmosphere and may have fallen into the southern Atlantic Ocean late on Monday night.
The US Space Command pinpointed where the satellite had reentered the atmosphere and then, calculating its trajectory, estimated where it would have landed on Earth.
China launched the two tonne satellite, the size of a small ear, in October 1993, but lost radio contact 10 days later.
The satellite was hurtling at speeds ranging from 17,000 m.p.h. (27,200 k.p.h.) to 17,600 m.p.h. (28,200 k.p.h.) and had orbited the Earth every 88 minutes.
A Russian military space forces official said the probe had no nuclear elements on board.
In Colorado Springs, the US Space Command said the imaging satellite re entered the atmosphere at 11.05 p.m. EST (4.05 a.m. Irish time), and that if it survived the re entry it was believed to be in the southern Atlantic Ocean.
The space command, which tracks all man made, Earth orbiting objects that could re enter the atmosphere, had tracked the Chinese spy satellite since its launch in 1993. It tracks such objects partly to ensure their re entry is not mistaken by the US or other nations for a ballistic missile.
The US space command said that 11 ground based radars worldwide were tracking the satellite capsule.