The NASA chief has today labelled India’s destruction of one of its satellites as a terrible thing that had created 400 pieces of orbital debris and unprecedented risks to astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
India has shot down a low-orbiting satellite in a missile test only to show that it has the world’s advanced space powers. Jim Bridenstine addressed employees of NASA post that. He 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 centimetres or bigger – about 60 pieces have been tracked.”
He also said that the satellite was ruined at a low altitude of 300 kilometres. But 24 of the pieces are going above the apogee of the International Space Station. “That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris at an apogee that goes above the International Space Station,” he said.
Such kind of activity is unacceptable and NASA needs to be very clear about what its impact on us is, he added. The US military tracks objects in space are currently tracking 23,000 objects larger than 10 centimetres. This Indian test has rapidly increased the danger of collision with the ISS by 44 per cent over 10 days. However, the risk will go with time, he confirmed.
