National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has called India’s successful performance of anti-satellite missile test (A-SAT) as “unacceptable”.
On Monday, the United States’ NASA has alleged that the Indian ASAT posed a safety threat to the ISS (International Space Station).
According to ANI news reports, NASA’s administrator Jim Bridenstine stated: “It’s unacceptable … That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris in an apogee that goes above the International Space Station.”
NASA said India’s test had created some 400 pieces of debris in the outer space of the orbit. Out of those, 60 orbital debris pieces were “big enough”, around 10 cm or larger – to be tracked. 24 pieces are expected to reach the ISS’ apogee.
NASA was quoted by Sputnik as saying that due to India’s ASAT test, the risk related to small debris impact to the ISS has increased over the period of 10 days by 44 per cent.
India has on Wednesday successfully tested its ASAT test, joining the group of three space powers – the US, Russia and China.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated, “India has entered its name as an elite space power. It is the fourth country to achieve this feat after the US, Russia and China. The ‘Mission Shakti’ operation was a difficult target to achieve, which was completed successfully within three minutes of the launch.”
He has also assured the international community the ASAR test doesn’t violate any foreign laws and treaty, and that India still remains committed against the arms race in space.
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