- Russia shot down one of its own space satellites.
- The United States strongly criticized this move.
- The astronauts on the International Space Station had to hide on their return ship.
The United States on Monday condemned Russia for carrying out a “dangerous and irresponsible” missile attack that blew up one of its satellites and created a cloud of debris, forcing the crew of the International Space Station to take evasive actions.
Officials said that Washington was not informed of the test in advance. This is the fourth time in history that a spacecraft has been hit from the ground and will discuss with allies how to deal with it.
This move has once again raised concerns about the increasingly fierce space arms race, including everything from developing satellites that can divert other satellites out of orbit to laser weapons.
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Secretary of State Anthony Brinken said in a statement: “The Russian Federation recklessly conducted a destructive test of a helicopter anti-satellite missile on one of its own satellites.”
He added that “dangerous and irresponsible testing” has produced more than 1,500 traceable orbital debris, and may produce hundreds of thousands of smaller orbital debris.
The crew on the orbital outpost-currently four Americans, one German, and two Russians-were awakened and first asked to close the hatch of the space station and then take refuge on the returning ship. This is an emergency The standard “safe haven” alert procedure may force evacuation in the event of a situation.
‘Irresponsible and destabilizing actions’
NASA said they went to the Dragon and Soyuz spacecraft at 02:00 Eastern Time (07:00 GMT) and stayed there for about two hours. The International Space Station continues to approach or pass through clouds every 90 minutes.
In his hard-worded speech, Brinken said that the danger is far from over, and debris will continue to threaten satellites and activities on the International Space Station.
He added that the United States is discussing its response measures with partners.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson added in a statement that he was “angry at this irresponsible and destabilizing behavior.”
“With its long history in the field of manned spaceflight, it is hard to imagine that Russia will endanger not only the American and international partner astronauts on the International Space Station, but also their own astronauts” and the Chinese “Tyco astronauts” on the Chinese Space Station. ,He said. .
According to the aerospace industry analysis company Seradata, the target of the missile is Cosmos 1408, a Soviet signal intelligence satellite from 1982 that has been abandoned for decades.
Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are high-tech missiles owned by a few countries.
India was the last country to test the target in 2019, producing hundreds of “space junk” that has been strongly criticized by other major powers, including the United States.
The United States shot down a satellite in 2008 in response to China’s similar knockdown in 2007.
Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said: “People in the aerospace industry feel that we already have too much debris on it-deliberately creating more is unforgivable.”
He said that the first objects in the debris cloud should begin to enter the atmosphere within a few months, but it may take up to 10 years to be completely cleared.
Global influence
This could endanger an increasingly crowded area of space known as “low earth orbit.”
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, there are currently more than 4,500 satellites whizzing past the earth. With the rapid growth of the private aerospace industry, companies such as SpaceX plan to launch tens of thousands of satellites.
Russia, under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, seeks to re-establish its global influence, so it is increasingly demonstrating its prowess in space.
In 2020, London and Washington accused Moscow of testing a “nested doll” satellite, which opened and released a smaller spacecraft to track an American satellite.
At the same time, China is developing a weapon called “Century 17” with a robotic arm capable of grasping spacecraft.
“Both China and Russia are increasingly incorporating space into their military capabilities,” said Avril Haynes, director of national intelligence, at a space seminar in Washington last week.
She added:
They have directed energy weapons that enable them to basically blind the sensors on various satellites.
Despite these tensions, since the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have maintained strong space ties and have worked closely together on the International Space Station they jointly built.
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