{"id":13270,"date":"2019-03-27T17:04:45","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T09:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/u-s-military-sensors-track-debris-from-indian-anti-satellite-test\/"},"modified":"2019-03-27T17:04:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T09:04:45","slug":"u-s-military-sensors-track-debris-from-indian-anti-satellite-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/u-s-military-sensors-track-debris-from-indian-anti-satellite-test\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. military sensors track debris from Indian anti-satellite test"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
India\u2019s anti-satellite missile struck the Microsat-R military satellite in orbit during a demonstration Wednesday. Credit: Analytical Graphics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S. Air Force was tracking at least 270 debris fragments created by an Indian anti-satellite missile test, but the debris field posed no immediate threat to the International Space Station or most other satellites in low Earth orbit, a senior U.S. military official said Wednesday in a congressional hearing.<\/p>\n

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the successful anti-satellite test \u2014 named \u201cMission Shakti\u201d \u2014 in a televised address Wednesday, heralding the achievement as a proud moment for India, which became the fourth country to demonstrate such a capability after the United States, Russia and China.<\/p>\n

But the test quickly raised concerns about space junk, and the deputy commander of U.S. Air Force Space Command told lawmakers Wednesday the military\u2019s satellite tracking radars were monitoring at least 270 pieces of debris left over from the collision of the Indian anti-satellite missile and its target in low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

Each fragment from the shattered satellite was traveling around the Earth at more than five miles per second. A violent impact with another object at the speed could take out a satellite and generate even more debris.<\/p>\n

The missile launch occurred at 0539 GMT (1:39 a.m. EDT; 11:09 a.m. Indian Standard Time) Wednesday, according to Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of Air Force Space Command. Thompson said in a hearing Wednesday afternoon before a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee that U.S. officials were aware of the upcoming missile launch as it happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, let me say clearly, it was detected, characterized and reported by Air Force systems, missile warning systems, and our airmen at Buckley Air Force Base,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately after the test struck the target vehicle, the Joint Space Operations Center and the Air Force\u2019s 18th Space Control Squadron began collecting information about the break-up of the vehicle,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cCurrently, they are tracking about 270 different objects in the debris field. Likely, that number is going to grow as the debris field spreads out and we collect more sensor information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indian officials said the anti-satellite missile, a modified rocket derived from the country\u2019s ballistic missile defense program, launched from Abdul Kalam Island on India\u2019s east coast and struck its target roughly 186 miles (300 kilometers) above Earth, disintegrating the satellite in a high-speed collision.<\/p>\n

The target for the test was likely the Indian military\u2019s Microsat-R satellite, which lifted off Jan. 24 on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The 1,631-pound (740-kilogram) Microsat-R spacecraft, which Indian officials described in January as an \u201cimaging satellite,\u201d was deployed into an unusually low polar orbit around 170 miles (274 kilometers) above Earth for the Defense Research and Development Organization, the Indian military agency which also conducted Wednesday\u2019s anti-satellite test.<\/p>\n

Analytical Graphics Inc. posted a video Wednesday with illustrations of how the anti-satellite test occurred.<\/p>\n