Nasa says India’s A-SAT test debris increased risk to International Space Station 

Pahi Mehra  Tuesday 2nd of April 2019 12:13 PM
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The International Space Station.

New Delhi: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, on Monday, branded India’s anti-satellite test carried out last week as a “terrible thing.”

Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine, while addressing the employees of Nasa after India shot down a low-orbiting satellite in a missile test to prove it was among the world’s advanced space powers, said the debris created by this test had increased the risk to the International Space Station.

He explained: “What we are tracking right now, objects big enough to track – we're talking about 10 centimeters or bigger – about 60 pieces have been tracked.” The satellite was destroyed at a relatively low altitude of 300 kilometres, well below the ISS and most satellites in orbit.

He further said, “That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris at an apogee that goes above the International Space Station … that kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight. It's unacceptable and Nasa needs to be very clear about what its impact to us is.”

He also said the threat from the Indian test was much smaller compared to that created by a similar test by China in 2007, “The good thing is that it is low enough and over time this will all dissipate. You go back in time, 2007, (the) direct-ascent anti-satellite test by the Chinese, a lot of the debris is still in the orbit.”

The US government also expressed concerns about the space debris created by the A-SAT test. The Indian government, however, had said that the test was done in the lower atmosphere to ensure that there was no space debris. “Whatever debris that is generated will decay and fall back on to the earth within weeks.”

Video of what Jim Bridenstine said:


 

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