Russian anti-satellite missile test was the first of its kind
[ad_1]
Russia’s latest anti-satellite test this week was unlike anything we’ve seen from the nation before.
The Russian Ministry of Defense launched an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile on Monday (Nov. 15), destroying one of its own satellites and creating a cloud of space debris that is threatening astronauts at the International Space Station. While nations including Russia have conducted ASAT tests before, this test was something different.
Over the years, multiple nations including the U.S. have developed and tested ASAT technology. In 2007, China launched an ASAT missile at one of its own weather satellites, and India launched its first ASAT test in 2019. In 2020, Russia launched two ASAT missiles and separately tested another non-destructive space-based ASAT technology.
Related: The worst space debris events of all time
But Monday’s test was something different. This was Russia’s first official intercept with its current ASAT system, known as Nudol, astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts told Space.com.
Different countries have different systems, but currently ASAT weapons that launch from Earth and are not space-based are relatively similar. “They’re suborbital rockets that home in on a target satellite and destroy it by just sitting in the way while the satellite smashes into it at 17,000 miles an hour [27,000 kilometers per hour],” McDowell said.
Previously, with Russia, “the multiple tests we saw were all rocket tests or flight tests,” space policy expert Brian Weeden, a director of program planning at Secure World Foundation, told Space.com. “This is like the 11th or 12th test of that system, but it will be the first one that was actually an intercept,” meaning that the test mission actually impacted a satellite and destroyed it, Weeden said.
With earlier tests of this same ASAT system, Russia likely aimed its weapon at “an imaginary point in space, pretending there was a satellite there,” McDowell said.
But this time, the test hit a real target in low Earth orbit: a defunct Soviet satellite called Cosmos 1408 that hasn’t functioned since the 1980s. And, while Soviet-era ASAT tests launched from different systems, Monday’s test was the first intercept with Russia’s modern system, McDowell said.
Related: Don’t panic about Russia’s recent anti-satellite test, experts say
Russia took the unexpected step to conduct an intercept, a move that continues to place the space station’s seven inhabitants (including two Russian cosmonauts) in danger and will have repercussions lasting years. But the test had other unique aspects as well.
“They took out a fairly large satellite,” McDowell said, referring to the approximately 3,860-pound (1,750 kilograms) Cosmos 1408 satellite. “That’s on the big end of targets that have been used.”
“There’s really no reason they should have used such a big target,” McDowell said. “They could have used a smaller target and generated less debris.” Additionally, while Russia’s ASAT test occurred at a lower altitude than China’s test, it happened at a much higher altitude than ASAT tests conducted by India and the United States.
“The implication of that is that the orbital debris will stay in orbit for an intermediate amount of time,” McDowell said, adding that the debris from this test will likely stay in orbit for years. He estimated that the majority of the material will come down within about five years while China’s test still has “a lot of debris” after 14 years and there is still material in orbit from old Soviet tests over 50 years ago.
This debris, experts expect, will continue to pose problems for satellites in orbit as well as the astronauts living on the space station.
This test was the first of its kind for Russia, but it begs the question of whether they will conduct other similar tests.
“It’s a great question. How many tests do they need to do?” McDowell said. “[It] depends a little bit on whether they’re seriously planning to deploy this system operationally,” he said, adding that the U.S. response to the event and the political interactions between the two nations will likely play a role. But, “if they’re really planning to employ an operational system, you might expect them to do it [conduct an intercept ASAT test] a number of times,” he said.
Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
[ad_2]
Original Post
Hey very nice web site!! Man .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your web site and take the feeds also…I’m satisfied to find so many helpful information right here in the publish, we want work out extra techniques on this regard, thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in truth was once a amusement account it. Look complex to more delivered agreeable from you! However, how can we communicate?
Rattling excellent information can be found on blog. “The quality of an organization can never exceed the quality of the minds that make it up.” by Harold R. McAlindon.
Good – I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your web site. I had no trouble navigating through all the tabs and related information ended up being truly easy to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Reasonably unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, website theme . a tones way for your client to communicate. Nice task..
Very interesting info!Perfect just what I was searching for!
Pretty great post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I’ve truly enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
I discovered your blog site on google and check a few of your early posts. Continue to keep up the very good operate. I just additional up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading more from you later on!…
My wife and i felt absolutely happy that Albert managed to conclude his reports by way of the precious recommendations he obtained in your web site. It is now and again perplexing to just always be giving for free information which the others might have been selling. And we also take into account we need the writer to be grateful to for this. Those explanations you made, the simple website menu, the friendships you give support to promote – it’s mostly extraordinary, and it is facilitating our son in addition to the family do think that idea is satisfying, and that is highly essential. Thanks for the whole thing!
I think this is among the most significant information for me. And i am glad reading your article. But should remark on some general things, The website style is wonderful, the articles is really nice : D. Good job, cheers
Hello.This post was really fascinating, especially since I was investigating for thoughts on this subject last Sunday.
obviously like your web-site however you need to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I to find it very bothersome to inform the truth then again I’ll surely come again again.
This website online is known as a walk-via for all of the information you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll undoubtedly discover it.
I was very pleased to seek out this net-site.I wished to thanks on your time for this glorious learn!! I definitely having fun with every little little bit of it and I’ve you bookmarked to take a look at new stuff you blog post.