India's space debris has returned to pre-2019 anti-satellite test levels, making it the least polluted among major space-faring nations.

  • April 11, 2022, 11:45 a.m.

The debris created by India’s anti-satellite test in March 2019 seems to have all decayed or disintegrated, and India’s contribution to space debris has fallen to the lowest levels in the last four years, the latest data shows.

There are thousands of big and small unwanted objects floating in space — out-of-operation satellites and their fragments, the remains of rockets and their parts, and other kinds of junk — that are collectively referred to as space debris. The pieces, moving at very high speeds just like every other object in space, are considered a threat to functional satellites and other space assets. A collision with even a milimeter-sized piece of space debris can destroy satellites or render them useless.

According to the latest issue of Orbital Debris Quarterly News, published by NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, there are 25,182 pieces of space debris, larger than 10 cm, in the lower earth orbits, which are within 2,000 km of the earth’s surface.

Of these, the debris from Indian space assets is only 114, the lowest among major space-faring nations, and around the same level as in 2018. In addition, India has 103 active and defunct spacecraft that are also in orbit. The United States, China, and countries of the former Soviet Union have the largest number of active or defunct satellites, as well as space debris, each contributing several thousand.

India’s contribution to space debris has increased sharply in 2019 after the country’s first-ever anti-satellite test, during which India demonstrated its capability to strike an enemy country’s space assets.

On March 27, 2019, India shot down its own 740-kg Microsat-R satellite to demonstrate this capability. That anti-satellite test had made India only the fourth country in the world to have the ability to destroy space-based infrastructure of an enemy country.

The destruction of the Microsat-R satellite has resulted in the creation of a large amount of space debris. NASA estimated that about 400 large and small pieces were created, though only about 100 were large enough to be tracked. Almost 90 per cent of the total pieces had disintegrated within a few weeks of the test. NASA had flagged about 50 large pieces that had remained in space for several weeks.

India had maintained that since the test was carried out in the lower atmosphere, the space debris would disintegrate quickly. The lower atmosphere has small amounts of friction as well as gravity, which is why the pieces were expected to burn out while falling towards the earth.

Before the anti-satellite test, there were about 115 pieces of debris attributed to India. In the few months after the test, this number had risen to 160. But over a period of time, many of these pieces either decayed or were destroyed. It is possible that some of the pieces from the anti-satellite test are still in space, while a few pieces of junk from earlier years have decayed. However, the total amount of space junk attributable to India is now lower than it was before the anti-satellite test.

Author : Rajdhani Delhi Representative

Rajdhani delhi representative

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