Russia is not the first country to conduct anti-satellite tests in space.
Washington:
An anti-satellite missile test conducted by Russia on Monday created a debris field in low Earth orbit, endangering the International Space Station and would endanger the International Space Station, US officials said. dangerous for space activities for many years, US officials said.
The space station’s seven-member crew – four US astronauts, one German and two Russian cosmonauts – were instructed to take shelter in their docked spacecraft compartments for two hours after testing as a precaution to allow for a quick getaway if needed, NASA said.
The lab, which orbits about 250 miles (402 km) above Earth, continues to pass by or near the debris cluster every 90 minutes, but NASA experts determined that the crew returned inside the home throttle was safe after the third pass, the agency said.
According to NASA, the crew is also ordered to close the hatches at some of the International Space Station (ISS) modules at this time.
“NASA will continue to monitor the debris in the coming days and beyond to ensure the safety of our crew in orbit,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in the statement.
Experts say testing weapons that disrupt satellites in orbit poses a space hazard by creating thin clouds that can collide with other objects, triggering a chain reaction of ballistics through Earth’s orbit.
Thousands of fragments
The Russian military and Defense Ministry were not immediately available for comment. An announcement posted on Twitter by Russian space agency Roscosmos downplayed the danger.
“The object’s orbit, which forced the crew today to enter the spacecraft according to standard procedures, has moved out of the ISS orbit,” Roscosmos tweeted. “The station is in the green area.”
The US Space Command said a direct-flying anti-satellite missile fired by Russia at one of its satellites has generated more than 1,500 pieces of “trackable orbital debris” and is likely to generate hundreds of thousands of smaller pieces of debris, the US Space Command said in a statement.
“Russia has demonstrated a willful disregard for the security, safety, stability, and long-term sustainability of the space domain for all nations,” said US military commander James Dickinson.
“Missile test debris” will continue to pose a threat to space activities for years to come, putting satellites and space missions at risk, he said. forced to perform additional collision avoidance operations”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the missile test as “reckless and irresponsible.” At the Pentagon, spokesman John Kirby said the test demonstrated the need to firmly establish standards of behavior in space.
“It is unthinkable that Russia would endanger not only the American astronauts and their international partners on the ISS, but also their astronauts,” Nelson said. He said the debris cloud also posed a threat to a separate Chinese space station under construction and the three-member crew of “taikonauts” on that outpost.
The incident comes just four days after the newest group of four astronauts on the space station – Americans Raja Chair, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron of NASA and crew of Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency – arrived at the platform. orbital platform to begin a six-month science mission. .
They were greeted by three space station crew members already on board – US astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov.
“Thanks for a crazy but well-coordinated day. We really appreciate all of the situational awareness you’ve provided us with,” Vande Hei said in a Monday radio broadcast to NASA. posted online by Space.com. “It was definitely a great way to bond as a crew, starting our first day in space.”
The space station, the size of an American football field, has been continuously occupied since November 2000, operated by the international cooperation of 5 space agencies from 15 countries, including Roscosmos of Russia.
Russia is not the first country to conduct anti-satellite tests in space. The United States did it for the first time in 1959, when satellites were rare and new.
In April, Russia carried out another test of an anti-satellite missile as officials argued that space would increasingly become a critical field for war.
In 2019, India shot down one of its satellites in low Earth orbit with a surface-to-air missile.
These tests have raised questions about the long-term sustainability of space operations essential to a wide range of commercial activities, from telecommunications and weather forecasting to banking and GPS services.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was automatically generated from the feed provided.)
