Explained | Russian ASAT test and its implications
The Hindu
It drew sharp reactions from US officials who also said it endangered the International Space Station
Russia has carried out an Direct-Ascent Anti-Satellite (DA-ASAT) test by shooting down an old satellite on Monday which has created a huge debris in the low earth orbit, according to the U.S. space command. It drew sharp reactions from US officials who also said it endangered the International Space Station (ISS).
According to the US space command, Russia has conducted the DA-ASAT test to shoot down an old Soviet Tselina-D SIGINT satellite, Kosmos-1408, which was launched in 1982 and had been dead for a long time. “The test so far has generated more than 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and will likely generate hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris,” it said in a statement.