To give a context to why this is important (even though technologically it is much easier to shoot a satellite).
Western Nations often have this tendency of pass international laws with exceptions for themselves using ridiculous arguments. Such as nuclear proliferation treaties which allows existing nuclear powers to build more nuclear war heads but does not allow others to build even the first nuke.
India's NSA Ajit Doval in 2011 had pointed out that this is going to happen to satellite sabotage as well. The existing players will gang up to ban such weapons while making exemptions for themselves. By publicly showing and acknowledging this capability India has ensured a seat at the table in future.
We're already working on putting missiles and directed energy in space at my job in missile defense. They are 'defensive' missiles but the new ones they're putting up there will have offensive capabilities as well
The first minutes of WWIII will see a multitude of satellites shot 'down', followed by cascading space debris beget space junk.
""In the journey of every nation there are moments that bring utmost pride and have a historic impact on generations to come. One such moment is today,"" U+1F644
U+1F644 is the codepoint for "Face with eyes looking up to sky watching cascading space debris mark the beginning of WW3", in case anyone was wondering.
The test was done in the lower atmosphere to ensure that there is no space debris. Whatever debris that is generated will decay and fall back onto the earth within weeks.
Satellites are sitting ducks. This feat is as admirable as kicking down a sandcastle on the beach.
We need an international treaty banning this because the detritus produced in the form of hundreds of thousands of new fragments in orbit is one of the largest threats to future space development.
Aren't little bits of debris in LEO going to fall back into the atmosphere and burn up pretty quickly, though? Not an expert here, but I think there is enough atmosphere left at standard LEO altitudes that thrusters are needed semi-regularly to keep these things in orbit. Granted, some debris may get launched into a weird elliptical orbit that takes them farther away from Earth for a bit, but then won't they come right back into the atmosphere at perigee and burn up?
The thing about shooting down another nation's satellites in a military conflict - your own satellites are equally as vulnerable. It's like starting a nuclear war.
I certainly hope that among the nations and people who are developing these weapons, they have a number of game theory people who have thoroughly considered all of the ramifications of mutually assured destruction.
In a major conflict, the US and Russia have a number of geostationary and MEO orbit military satellite communications systems which are outside of the reach of any LEO antisatellite weapons (capable of shooting down things up in up to approximately 550x550km circular orbits).
On an Indian specific note, this threat has to be aimed only at whatever Pakistan might put into orbit. At present Pakistan has negligible ability to launch anything themselves, and very little actual Pakistani owned/manufactured/controlled satellites in low earth orbit. But who else can it possibly be considered a threat to?
India is hopefully not foolish enough to think that they could get into a shooting war with China and come out ahead.
Most likely because the Department of Space comes under the Prime Minister.[1] And it was very important to assure the international community that we are not going to use it for attacking another country. PM's direct involvement helps this very much. The Chinese test got a significant negative reaction because of the ignorance from the top leadership.
Modi takes the credit for anything achieved by the government or government backed entities like the space organisation. He singlehandedly opened bank accounts (that are empty), surgically struck Pakistan (with his bare hands), got us to space, developed missiles, brought the black money back, won the cricket world cup, created jobs, built the mandir (that's built, right?) and a million other achievements.
What's curious is that he seems to go missing when there's a fuck up. Who was responsible for demonetization? No idea, blame anyone you want but don't blame him!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/27/modi-space-wea... "veteran broadcaster Shekhar Gupta tweeted that the space missile had destroyed two targets: a satellite, and “what remained of the stature [and] reputation of Election Commission of India”"
And point to be noted is that this one was just after the election. So it seems like elections have not been a major factor in these kinds of announcement in India.
Strangely, I'm not seeing a wide enough condemnation of this. Another country is building destructive weapons, bringing down LEOs; how is this a good thing? All the while the region suffers from chronic poverty, poor access to clean water and basic services.
Sending a science mission to space is great and rightly lauded, this is wasteful and energies spent better elsewhere.
Advancing your countries technological capability and dealing with one of the largest populations living in poverty are two separate endeavors. Expecting a country to abandon growth in one sector to improve another is not really sensible. Both challenges are being tackled simultaneously. The US conducted Apollo and the Mars missions, spending billions while people in Skid Row or Detroit live in 3rd world level poverty.
> Strangely, I'm not seeing a wide enough condemnation of this. Another country is building destructive weapons, bringing down LEOs; how is this a good thing?
I've seen some criticism from certain individuals. However, I haven't read any condemnation from any Western government(as yet). I'm not sure but Western governments(or at least the US government) was probably taken into confidence either before the event or soon after the test. Considering that China already has this tech, it becomes paramount for India to have it. I think this is generally supported by the US(the government) as well.
> All the while the region suffers from chronic poverty, poor access to clean water and basic services.
Developing such such security apparatus doesn't mean we are ignoring poverty and other essential things. Both can be done simultaneously, just like the US did(explained by a sibling comment).
Once you see it in the context of protecting your country from hostile and belligerent neighbors, you will realize that it is not at all wasteful, rather is absolutely necessary.
Such a huge step toward more peace in the world. What do you expect when world major democracy advocates are also the world major weapon sellers.
I don't think there is any technological glory on destroying a satellite that deserves such a public announcement. Perhaps it is far less complicated than putting a satellite into space which is what India was already good at it.
>>I don't think there is any technological glory on destroying a satellite
We are talking about the capability to track and destroy a live satellite in space in under a span of 3 minutes with precision. There is a significant amount of technology involved here right from the types of propellants, precise navigation controls to steer rock in a specific direction...all of which has been developed indigenously. This technology can be easily used in other space programs for civilian applications.
Not sure on what basis you are considering this as not being technologically significant.
Just wondering, is it possible to use a big enough mirror and just reflect sunlight to do the same thing? Though this only means satellites can only be destroyed during daytime.
Does the fact it was on low orbite would mitigate the risk of adding-up even more space debris to the current graveyard of debris? I remember it was a big concern/critique when China did its own attempt. I don't know enough about this test/space to tell if it's different this time.
In cases where the satellite is orbiting low, Kessler shouldn't be a problem. In this case the satellite was at 300km and the pieces would decay in less than a year. Even if pieces were pushed into a higher orbit by the explosion, they would still dip down to 300km periodically and decay just a little longer.
This is critical for the geopolitical stability of the region. Pakistan, China have traditionally assumed that India lacks the political will as well as the technological capacity to build advanced weapons such as these. This will be a big deterrence and help bring it peace to the region.
I would not be surprised if India announces ICBMs in the next 5 years. A country that can place 100s of satellites in space as well as place geostationary satellites, has the necessary rocket technology to build an ICBM. Just because they don't talk about it, doesn't mean they can't do it.
I think India is in the midst of adopting an active deterrence policy. Being passive hasn't yielded good results.
[+] [-] KorematsuFred|7 years ago|reply
Western Nations often have this tendency of pass international laws with exceptions for themselves using ridiculous arguments. Such as nuclear proliferation treaties which allows existing nuclear powers to build more nuclear war heads but does not allow others to build even the first nuke.
India's NSA Ajit Doval in 2011 had pointed out that this is going to happen to satellite sabotage as well. The existing players will gang up to ban such weapons while making exemptions for themselves. By publicly showing and acknowledging this capability India has ensured a seat at the table in future.
[+] [-] vaguesortof|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Cactus2018|7 years ago|reply
""In the journey of every nation there are moments that bring utmost pride and have a historic impact on generations to come. One such moment is today,"" U+1F644
[+] [-] 0xfaded|7 years ago|reply
https://codepoints.net/U+1F644
[+] [-] devoply|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dajohnson89|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yumraj|7 years ago|reply
V. Does the test create space debris?
The test was done in the lower atmosphere to ensure that there is no space debris. Whatever debris that is generated will decay and fall back onto the earth within weeks.
[0] https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/soon-after-pm-address-foreig...
[+] [-] ygra|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] worldsayshi|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] droithomme|7 years ago|reply
We need an international treaty banning this because the detritus produced in the form of hundreds of thousands of new fragments in orbit is one of the largest threats to future space development.
[+] [-] bsmith|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] OneFamousGrouse|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] walrus01|7 years ago|reply
I certainly hope that among the nations and people who are developing these weapons, they have a number of game theory people who have thoroughly considered all of the ramifications of mutually assured destruction.
In a major conflict, the US and Russia have a number of geostationary and MEO orbit military satellite communications systems which are outside of the reach of any LEO antisatellite weapons (capable of shooting down things up in up to approximately 550x550km circular orbits).
On an Indian specific note, this threat has to be aimed only at whatever Pakistan might put into orbit. At present Pakistan has negligible ability to launch anything themselves, and very little actual Pakistani owned/manufactured/controlled satellites in low earth orbit. But who else can it possibly be considered a threat to?
India is hopefully not foolish enough to think that they could get into a shooting war with China and come out ahead.
[+] [-] abhinai|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sbmthakur|7 years ago|reply
1. https://www.isro.gov.in/about-isro/organisation-structure
[+] [-] nindalf|7 years ago|reply
What's curious is that he seems to go missing when there's a fuck up. Who was responsible for demonetization? No idea, blame anyone you want but don't blame him!
[+] [-] rishav_sharan|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tpc3|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kumarharsh|7 years ago|reply
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokhran-II
And point to be noted is that this one was just after the election. So it seems like elections have not been a major factor in these kinds of announcement in India.
[+] [-] 131012|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unmole|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dugluak|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Throwawayzoink|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adictator|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] no1name|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] nashadelic|7 years ago|reply
Sending a science mission to space is great and rightly lauded, this is wasteful and energies spent better elsewhere.
[+] [-] FreedomToCreate|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sbmthakur|7 years ago|reply
I've seen some criticism from certain individuals. However, I haven't read any condemnation from any Western government(as yet). I'm not sure but Western governments(or at least the US government) was probably taken into confidence either before the event or soon after the test. Considering that China already has this tech, it becomes paramount for India to have it. I think this is generally supported by the US(the government) as well.
> All the while the region suffers from chronic poverty, poor access to clean water and basic services.
Developing such such security apparatus doesn't mean we are ignoring poverty and other essential things. Both can be done simultaneously, just like the US did(explained by a sibling comment).
[+] [-] nashadelic|7 years ago|reply
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/02/india/nasa-india-anti-missile...
[+] [-] i2shar|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yumraj|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gnarmis|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] stunt|7 years ago|reply
I don't think there is any technological glory on destroying a satellite that deserves such a public announcement. Perhaps it is far less complicated than putting a satellite into space which is what India was already good at it.
[+] [-] vtbprog|7 years ago|reply
We are talking about the capability to track and destroy a live satellite in space in under a span of 3 minutes with precision. There is a significant amount of technology involved here right from the types of propellants, precise navigation controls to steer rock in a specific direction...all of which has been developed indigenously. This technology can be easily used in other space programs for civilian applications.
Not sure on what basis you are considering this as not being technologically significant.
[+] [-] wyred|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kumarharsh|7 years ago|reply
For a rough estimate, see this: https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/
[+] [-] indy7500|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] doe88|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bobbydreamer|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SEJeff|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] foxyv|7 years ago|reply
Example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_decay#/media/File:Alti...
[+] [-] adictator|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dugluak|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mobilemidget|7 years ago|reply
We can see space-x events from 32 different angles and audio of everything happening, I kind of assume you would record these events too?
[+] [-] z3phyr|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] techie128|7 years ago|reply
I would not be surprised if India announces ICBMs in the next 5 years. A country that can place 100s of satellites in space as well as place geostationary satellites, has the necessary rocket technology to build an ICBM. Just because they don't talk about it, doesn't mean they can't do it.
I think India is in the midst of adopting an active deterrence policy. Being passive hasn't yielded good results.
[+] [-] shripadk|7 years ago|reply