New Delhi: The government Wednesday declined to comment on United States space agency NASA’s assessment that India’s anti-satellite weapon test last week led to creation of 400 pieces of space debris that could pose a threat to the International Space Station (ISS). When contacted Wednesday, the spokesperson of Ministry of Defence did not give any reaction.
India achieved a historic feat March 27 by shooting down its own low-orbit satellite with a ground-to-space missile, making the country a space power. Only three other countries – the US, Russia and China – have ASAT capabilities
The NASA termed Tuesday as a ‘terrible thing’ India’s shooting down of one of its satellites. It said that India had put the ISS at risk by creating a huge amount of debris.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said about 60 pieces have been tracked so far and out of which 24 are going above the apogee of the ISS. “That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris and an apogee that goes above the international space station. That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight that we need to see have happen,” he had stated.
He had also pointed out that China which did such a test had also created debris some of which are yet to come down to earth and hence were dangerous.
PTI