The debris field created by India's anti-satellite test threatens the ISS

According to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, the first successful test of an anti-satellite weapon in India has resulted in the creation of an orbit debris field of at least 400 pieces. This debris now threatens the ISS, he said, calling India's actions "incompatible with the future of manned spaceflight".

Bridenstine made these comments yesterday during a conversation with NASA employees at a public meeting, reports Space. NASA has identified about 400 pieces of the destroyed satellite, 60 of which are more than 10 centimeters (4 inches) wide – large enough to be spotted by US ground-based radars, reports SpaceNews. It is disturbing that some of these pieces have entered orbits equal to or greater than the International Space Station, potentially putting the base in danger.

The debris field was created on March 27th when India destroyed its own Microsat-R with a ground-launched satellite-based anti-satellite weapon (ASAT). India is now the fourth country to have tested ASATs, the others being the United States, the Soviet Union and China. The remarkable test, called Mission Shakti, was a demonstration of India's new capability in space and a warning to rival nations to keep clear of the Indian satellite fleet.

The condemned satellite was at an altitude of about 300 km when it was destroyed, enough height for the debris "to decompose and fall back on the Earth in a few weeks," said the Indian Foreign Ministry after the test. . Previously, however, suggests that it could take a lot longer than that; in 2008, the United States destroyed a dead satellite at an altitude of 250 km (150 miles) and it took about 18 months for all the material to fall back on Earth, according to SpaceflightNow.

Disturbingly, NASA said that about two dozen pieces of the destroyed Indian satellite had been launched in orbits higher than the ISS, which is currently circling the Earth at an altitude of 410 km.

"It's a terrible thing, to create an event that sends debris into a climax that passes over the International Space Station," said Bridenstine at City Hall. "And this kind of activity is not compatible with the future of manned spaceflight. This is unacceptable and NASA must be very clear about its impact on us. "

The fear is that a broken satellite could hit and damage the ISS. Even the slowest object in the low Earth orbit is moving at a speed of about 7.8 kilometers per second, or 17,500 miles an hour; an impact on the space station could therefore be catastrophic.

Bridenstine continued: "We are responsible for marketing the low Earth orbit; we are responsible for allowing more activities in the space that we have never seen in the interest of the human condition, that it is about products pharmaceutical or 3D human organs print to save lives here on Earth, or to manufacture capabilities in the space that you are. not able to do in a good gravity. "

Such activities are endangered by such events, he said, and "when one country does, other countries feel compelled to do so too," he said. The head of NASA worries about a copy effect, in which other countries will now feel compelled to demonstrate their own anti-satellite capability. (Of course, NASA tested its own anti-satellite weapon in 2008.)

NASA, as well as the combined space operations center of the army, estimated that the risk for the ISS had increased by 44% over a period of 10 days. That said, Bridenstine assured the public that the six people on board the ISS were not in immediate danger. The ISS is "still safe," he said, adding that the ISS could be maneuvered if necessary, a contingency that he described as having a "low" probability.

Laura Grego of the Union of Concerned Scientists said that such tests endangered some 2,000 satellites currently in orbit.

"Destroying orbiting satellites in high-altitude bands used by civilian and military satellites can also have driving effects, producing dangerous clouds of debris that could remain in orbit for decades or years. centuries, disabling or destroying satellites with which they would collide, "said Grego. in a report. "The United States and other countries must find a way forward without compromising the security of all spaces and not creating new risks of conflict on Earth."

[Space, SpaceNews]