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NASA Administrator Says India Anti-Satellite Missile Test Put the ISS at Risk

posted by martyb on Wednesday April 03 2019, @12:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the kaboom-in-spaaaaaace dept.

takyon writes:

India anti-satellite missile test a 'terrible thing,' NASA chief says

India's anti-satellite missile test created at least 400 pieces of orbital debris, the head of NASA says -- placing the International Space Station (ISS) and its astronauts at risk.

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said Monday that just 60 pieces of debris were large enough to track. Of those, 24 went above the apogee of the ISS, the point of the space station's orbit farthest from the Earth.

"That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris at an apogee that goes above the International Space Station," Bridenstine said in a live-streamed NASA town hall meeting. "That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight." He added: "It is not acceptable for us to allow people to create orbital debris fields that put at risk our people."

Also at BBC and The Guardian.

Previously: India Shoots Down Satellite in Test

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @03:05AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @03:05AM (#823935)

    I am wondering how the world will be when the very last country becomes capable of destroying satellites. How are THEY going to test?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @03:34AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @03:34AM (#823953)

    If you have the ability to launch something and dock it in space, you should also have the ability to hit a satellite with a missile. No testing needed, just use a supercomputer.

    • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday April 03 2019, @05:03PM

      by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 03 2019, @05:03PM (#824143) Journal

      Incorrect assumption. Launching and docking is a lot easier. The precise orbital parameters of the dockee are known and it is usually fitted with both a big light indicating where to dock in both visible light and radio waves.

      That is dramatically different from acquiring a target from the ground, launching on a ballistic trajectory, finding the thing that may or may not have countermeasures against being found, and smacking into it.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @04:59AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 03 2019, @04:59AM (#823973)

    Why destroy them? Just knock it back in. It will mostly burn up on reentry, right?

  • (Score: 2) by jimtheowl on Wednesday April 03 2019, @08:41PM

    by jimtheowl (5929) on Wednesday April 03 2019, @08:41PM (#824232)
    This is whataboutism. One evil does not excuse another.