SoylentNews

JoeMerchant [soylentnews.org] writes:

India shot down one of its own satellites [yahoo.com] in low-Earth orbit with a ground-to-space missile on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, hailing his country's first test of such weaponry as a breakthrough establishing it as a military space power.

India would only be the fourth country to have used such an anti-satellite weapon after the United States, Russia and China, said Modi, who heads into general elections next month.

"Our scientists shot down a live satellite 300 kilometers away in space, in low-Earth orbit," Modi said in a television broadcast.

"India has made an unprecedented achievement today," he added, speaking in Hindi. "India registered its name as a space power."

-----

Elections are coming up, and more than one politician is trying to make their name as the Space General of the future.

Original Submission