TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Seeking to assuage concerns over the orbital debris created by India’s A-SAT test, Defence and Research Development Organisation chairman G Satheesh Reddy on Thursday again assured that the mission was planned in a way that the resulting fragments will decay in a few weeks and there was no threat to the ISS.
Speaking at the Vivekananda International Foundation, a think-tank, Reddy said the location for the test was “well away” from the International Space Station. “The debris will decay in a few weeks. That’s how the whole mission was planned,” he said.
Noting that the A-SAT test was an exemplary effort reflecting India’s indigenous defence technology, the Defence and Research Development Organisation chief said more than 50 industries participated in the mission contributing 200 components to make the mission a success.
India shot down one of its satellites in space on March 27 with a ground-launched anti-satellite missile to demonstrate this complex capability, joining the elite club of countries — the US, Russia and China — which have such capabilities. The A-SAT test was successfully conducted with a new interceptor missile against a live orbiting satellite in the Low Earth Orbit in a hit-to-kill mode.
