India’s A-sat Is A Sign That Space Weapons Are A Reality

The unexpected launch of India’s test of anti-satellite missiles this week surprised and partly alarmed a lot of aerospace-industry and international experts. The success of the test has placed India fourth in the list of countries having the ability to destroy a satellite of the enemy. The other nations capable of this are Russia, China and the U.S.

A weapon that specializes as anti-satellite, also known as ASAT, is any device which physically damages or destroys a satellite.

According to Joan Johnson-Freese, who teaches affairs of national security at Newport’s college of Naval War in Rhode Island, the problem in the definition of an ASAT lies in maximum space technology being dual-use. There are a lot of non-overt types of ASATs.

The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi announced on Wednesday that is, March 27, about the country having established the feat of launching an ASAT missile on the same day. “Mission Shakti” was the name of launch mission and in all probability; it struck a satellite from India in the low orbit of Earth and turned it into debris. There are a lot of shapes that ASATs can take. However, the standard examples abide by the models of kinetic-kill, where an object either on ground or in space is scheduled for collision with a satellite that is orbiting. It leads to the destruction of both the target and the object, owing to the crash energy.

However it is not necessary for an ASAT to remain airborne. According to Johnson-Freese, if the intention is of stopping information transmission from a satellite to ground, destruction of the station on the ground will accomplish a similar goal, minus space debris. Maneuverable satellites can be directed into smashing other satellites, too. For temporarily dazzling or permanently blinding satellites by the destruction of their sensors, a laser can be used.