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<\/p>\nRussia\u2019s Kosmos 1408 satellite was destroyed in orbit earlier on Tuesday in what appears to have been a demonstration of Russia\u2019s Nudol anti-satellite missile. While the Russian government has not yet acknowledged the cause of the satellite\u2019s breakup, concerns about debris from the satellite have already disrupted operations aboard the International Space Station and could pose a threat to other spacecraft in low Earth orbit for some time to come.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Breakups of satellites in orbit happen from time to time and can have several different causes. These can range from intentional destruction of a spacecraft \u2013 either by an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon or an onboard self-destruct \u2013 to accidents such as explosions or collisions with another spacecraft or piece of debris. Four countries \u2013 the United States, Russia, China and India \u2013 have demonstrated anti-satellite weapons against targets in orbit.<\/p>\n
Both the United States and the Soviet Union carried out ASAT tests during the Cold War. The US weapon was the ASM-135, an air-launched missile that could be fired from an F-15 Eagle. Testing culminated in the interception and destruction of the P78-1 Solwind satellite on 13 September 1985. Instead of a missile-based system, the Soviet Union opted to develop the Istrebitel Sputnikov, or \u201cfighter satellite\u201d, which would enter orbit and maneuver to destroy its target. Several tests using specially-launched targets were carried out in the 1970s and early 1980s.<\/p>\n
With the end of the Cold War, development of weapons to shoot down satellites became a lower priority, however in January 2007 the People\u2019s Republic of China carried out a test against one of its own defunct weather satellites.<\/p>\n
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An SM-3 missile launches to destroy the USA-193 satellite in 2008 \u2014 via US Navy<\/p>\n
The following year the US Navy used a modified SM-3 missile to destroy the USA-193 reconnaissance satellite. USA-193 had failed immediately after launch and the US characterized its interception as necessary to reduce the risk of it causing damage on Earth if it re-entered, however it demonstrated that the SM-3 could successfully target and shoot down a spacecraft in a low orbit.<\/p>\n
In March 2019, India carried out its own anti-satellite test, shooting down a target that had been launched a few months earlier.<\/p>\n
Russia has been developing its own anti-satellite system, Nudol, based on the A-235 anti-ballistic missile system. Nudol was first tested in 2014, with the first successful test occurring in late 2015 at the third attempt. Tests have continued over the last few years, although Monday\u2019s was the first to involve the interception of an actual satellite in orbit.<\/p>\n
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A Nudol missile being prepared for a test launch in 2018 \u2014 via Russian Ministry of Defense<\/p>\n
Kosmos 1408 was a Tselina-D electronic signals intelligence (ELINT) satellite launched on 16 September 1982 aboard a Tsyklon-3 rocket flying from Site 32\/2 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Also known as Ikar, Tselina-D satellites were the larger counterparts of the Soviet Union\u2019s Tselina-O spacecraft, with the smaller satellites initially serving to identify and locate radio sources which would then be observed by the Tselina-D spacecraft. Tselina-O deployments ceased in 1982, with later Tselina-D spacecraft operating on their own.<\/p>\n
The satellites were developed by the OKB-586 design bureau \u2013 later known as Yuzhnoye \u2013 and each had a mass at launch of approximately 2,000 kilograms. The design life of the spacecraft was only around half a year, with Kosmos 1408 having been long derelict by the time of its destruction. It operated in an orbit about 630 kilometers above the Earth\u2019s surface during its lifetime, although atmospheric drag from 39 years in orbit had considerably lowered this. Shortly before its interception, Kosmos 1408 was in a 472 by 498-kilometer orbit, inclined at 82.6 degrees to the equator.<\/p>\n
The Nudol missile was most likely launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome around 02:45 UTC (05:45 Moscow Time) on Monday, as Kosmos 1408 passed overhead. Notices to Airmen (NOTAMS) published to warn pilots of hazardous activity indicated that a missile launch was planned from Plesetsk around this time.<\/p>\n