India's shooting down of satellite put ISS at risk, says NASA

Washington The NASA on Monday termed as a terrible thing Indias shooting down of one of its satellites that has created about 400 pieces of orbital debris endangering the International Space Station ISS NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said about 60 pieces have been tracked so far and out of which 24 are going above the apogee of the ISSThat is a terrible terrible thing to create an event that sends debris and an apogee that goes above the international space station That kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human spaceflight that we need to see have happen he said at a NASA townhall in Washington The ASAT test by India last week has resulted in about 400 pieces of orbital debris he addedBridenstine said not all of the pieces were big enough to track and the NASA is right now tracking objects which are 10 centimeters or bigger Some 60 pieces of orbital debris have been tracked so far 24 out of which poses risk to the International Space Station he saidBridenstine was addressing employees of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised address announced that India shot down a satellite in space with a missile catapulting the country into an elite club of space powers alongside the US Russia and China Bridenstine is the first top official from the Trump administration to come out in public against the Indias ASAT testWe are charged with commercialising of low earth orbit We are charged with enabling more activities in space than weve ever seen before for the purpose of benefiting the human condition whether its pharmaceuticals or printing human organs in 3D to save lives here on earth or manufacturing capabilities in space that youre not able to do in a gravity well he saidAll of those are placed at risk when these kinds of events happen Bridenstine said as he feared Indias ASAT test could risk proliferation of such activities by other countries When one country does it other countries feel like they have to do it as well he said Its unacceptable The NASA needs to be very clear about what its impact to us is the NASA Administrator saidHe said the NASA is learning more and more every hour that goes by about this orbital debris field that has been created from the antisatellite test Where we were last week with an assessment that comes from NASA experts as well as the Joint Space Operations Center part of US Strategic Command is that the risk to the International Space Station has increased by 44 per cent Bridenstine saidThe risk from small debris as a result of the ASAT test to the ISS went up 44 per cent over a period of 10 days So the good thing is its low enough in earth orbit that over time this will all dissipate he told his NASA colleagues He said a lot of debris from the 2007 direct ascent antisatellite test by China is still in the space And were still dealing with it We are still we as a nation are responsible for doing space situational awareness and space traffic management conjunction analysis for the entire world Bridenstine saidThe US he said is doing it for free with the its taxpayers money from an orbital debris field that was created by another country Why do we do that as a nation Because its the right thing to do because we want to preserve the space environment he saidAccording to Bridenstine the US is currently tracking about 23000 pieces of orbital debris that are 10 centimeters or bigger At the end of the day we need to be clear with everybody in the world were the only agency in the federal government that has human lives at stake here And it is not acceptable for us to allow people to create orbital debris fields that put at risk our people he saidBridenstine said while the risk of the ISS went up 44 per cent the astronauts are still safe The International Space Station is still safe If we need to manoeuvre it we will The probability of that I think is low But at the end of the day we have to be clear also that these activities are not sustainable or compatible with human spaceflight he saidCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates