Mission Shakti is a joint programme of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).As part of the mission, India has tested the Anti-Satellite System(ASAT) from Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island, situated off the coast of Odisha. ASAT successfully destroyed a live satellite in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO), that is an altitude up to 2,000 km. A satellite in the LEO can monitor activities on the ground and water surfaces. Such a satellite can be used for espionage too.As per sources, the satellite that was knocked out was Microsat R, a micro-satellite launched by ISRO in January, 2019.
ASAT has the technological capability to hit and destroy satellites in space through missiles launched from the ground. So far the US, China and Russia were the only ones who have reported the ability to shoot down space objects from ground or airborne sources. India is the fourth country now to have the technology. There are different kinds of systems — those that can be launched from the ground or those vaulted from planes.
The first anti-satellite test (ASAT) was carried out by the US military way back in 1959. The erstwhile Soviet Union followed a year later. In the Cold War era, 1985 was the last time that the United States had used an anti-satellite system to destroy its P-781 satellite. Anti-satellite weapons came into limelight again after China conducted an anti-satellite missile test on January 11, 2007. The target was a Chinese weather satellite — the FY-1C – that sailed at an altitude of 865 km. A year later, the US launched ‘Operation Burnt Frost’, the code name to intercept and destroy a non-functioning US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) satellite named USA-193. Other countries which could have the capability, like Israel, have not shown an intention to test.
India has long developed the ability to intercept incoming missiles. In 2011, a modified Prithvi missile mimicked the trajectory of a ballistic missile with a 600-km range.
Significance
A large number of crucial applications are now satellite-based. These include navigation systems, communication networks, broadcasting, banking systems, stock markets, weather forecasting, disaster management, land and ocean mapping and monitoring tools, and military applications.Destroying a satellite would render these applications useless.
Mission Shakti will not have any effect on India’s status in the MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime) or other such treaties. Mission Shakti’s success will help in strengthening India’s defence capabilities.
International Treaties regarding Outer Space
- The principal international treaty on space is the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. India is a signatory to this treaty, and ratified it in 1982. It prohibits only weapons of mass destruction in outer space, not ordinary weapons. The treaty also prohibits the stationing of such weapons on celestial bodies, like the moon, or in outer space.
- The UN Transparency and Confidence Building Measures(TCBMs)includes registering space objects with the UN register, pre-launch notifications,etc.
- India participates in IADC-activities with regard to space debris management.
- There is the UN resolution on No First Placement of Weapons on Outer Space.
Why is Mission Shakti safe?
None of the international treaties or agreements technically prohibits the kind of test that India carried out. The test was done in the lower atmosphere to ensure that there is minimal space debris. Whatever debris is generated will decay and fall back to earth within weeks.
Alternatives ways of destroying satellites
Technologies have been developed to jam the communication from the satellites by interfering with its radio signals.
Sending satellites close enough to deviate the target satellite from its selected orbit, without destroying it is also possible.
Using ground-based lasers to cause the sensors of the satellites to malfunction could make them at least ‘partially blind’ so that they are unable to work efficiently.
Space debris
The head of NASA said that the ASAT test had created 400 pieces of orbital debris and led to new dangers for astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Though the Indian satellite was destroyed at a relatively low altitude of 300 km, well below the ISS and most satellites in orbit, the NASA said 24 of the pieces “are going above the apogee of the ISS”.
Space debris includes active and inactive satellites, rockets and their parts, and other small fragments. According to the European Space Agency, there were an estimated 7,50,000 objects of size one cm or above in space. A satellite that is destroyed by a missile disintegrates into small pieces, and adds to the space debris.
Space debris is one of the principal threats to satellites as they could collide with the operational satellites and render them dysfunctional.