Just a few days ago, India tested its first ASAT weapon entering the club of elite nations possessing this capability.
According to reports, India’s ASAT destroyed one of its own satellites in the low earth orbit.
Apparently, this test has created 400 pieces of orbital debris which can lead to new dangers for astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
While addressing the employees of NASA, Administrator, Jim Bridenstine, said:
“Not all of the pieces were big enough to track. What we are tracking right now, objects big enough to track – we’re talking about 10 centimeters (six inches) or bigger – about 60 pieces have been tracked. But 24 of the pieces are going above the apogee of the International Space Station.”
He further explained,
“That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris at an apogee that goes above the International Space Station. That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight.”
With the amount of space debris produced by India’s test, the risk of collision with ISS has increased by almost 44%.
Soon after this statement by the NASA administrator, netizens started criticising NASA for all the debris it has created in the past.
Reports suggest that much of the debris produced by this test will burn up as soon as it enters the earth’s atmosphere.