Space station may have to dodge orbital junk hurtling at 17,000 mph, NASA says
An anti-satellite test by India has littered Earth’s orbit with 400 chunks of debris traveling 17,000 mph, which NASA says could endanger the International Space Station, CBS News reports.
The test Wednesday, in which India fired a missile at one of its own satellites, sent at least 24 pieces of wreckage into orbits higher than the station, meaning that as those orbits decay the junk could hit the station, CNN reported.
“That is a terrible, terrible thing, to create an event that sends debris in an apogee that goes above the International Space Station,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said on Monday, NPR reported. “And that kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human space flight that we need to see happen.”
A collision with even a tiny fragment at orbital speeds could be disastrous, meaning U.S. and Russian controllers will have to reposition the space station to minimize the risks, CBS News reported.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the anti-satellite test, called Mission Shakti, on Wednesday in an address to the nation, calling it “an unprecedented achievement,” making India “a space power,” Business Insider reported.
“There can be no bigger moment of pride for every Indian than this,” Modi said, CBS News reported.
Modi said the missile hit the satellite at an altitude of about 185 miles, below the 254-mile high orbit of the International Space Station, Physics.org reported. Experts say the test targeted a Microsat-R satellite launched Jan. 24 by India.
The explosion created at least 400 fragments, including 60 debris chunks 4 inches or more across - large enough to be tracked, CBS News reported.
“The good thing is, it’s low enough in Earth orbit that over time, this will all dissipate,” Bridenstine said, NPR reported.
Most of the junk will burn up in the atmosphere in the next three weeks, CBS News reported.
But the fragments thrown into higher orbit raise the risk of collision with the International Space Station by 44 percent over the 10 days following the test, Bridenstine said, CNN reported.
“It’s unacceptable, and NASA needs to be very clear about what its impact to us is,” Bridenstine said, according to the network.
The United States currently tracks an estimated 23,000 pieces of space junk in Earth orbit, NPR reported.
In the 2013 film “Gravity,” collisions with orbital junk destroy a space shuttle and the International Space Station, stranding an astronaut played by Sandra Bullock in space, according to IMDB.
This story was originally published April 2, 2019 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Space station may have to dodge orbital junk hurtling at 17,000 mph, NASA says."