Mission Shakti (Anti-Satellite Missile Test)

Mains Paper 3: Science & Technology | Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics etc.

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

Prelims level: Mission Shakti, ASAT

Mains level: Strategic significance of the Mission Shakti

In an incremental advance, India has successfully conducted an Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile test, named Mission Shakti.
India becomes the fourth country in the world to demonstrate the capability to shoot down satellites in orbit.
So far, only the United States, Russia and China have this prowess.

Mission Shakti

While Mission Shakti may have targeted an object in outer space, 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.
The DRDO-developed Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Interceptor Missile successfully engaged an Indian orbiting target satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in a ‘Hit to Kill’ mode.
The interceptor missile was a three-stage missile with two solid rocket boosters.

What are low earth orbit satellites?

The Indian satellite that was shot down was a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite.
These are satellites roughly at an altitude of 2,000 kilometres from the earth and that’s the region where the majority of satellites are concentrated.

ASAT through history

ASAT is the technological capability to hit and destroy satellites in space through missiles launched from the ground.
ASAT weapon systems have a long history and were a product of the Cold War hostilities between the United States and the Soviet Union.
They came back into popular currency after China conducted an anti-satellite missile test on Jan 2007.
The target was a Chinese weather satellite — the FY-1C – that sailed at an altitude of 865 km. (537 mi).
A year later, the US launched ‘Operation Burnt Frost,’ the code name to intercept and destroy a non-functioning satellite named USA-193.

Why target satellites?

Satellites are extremely critical infrastructure of any country these days. 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, and military applications etc.
Destroying a satellite would render these applications useless.
It can cripple enemy infrastructure, and bring it down on knees, without causing any threat to human lives.

Problem of space debris

Anything launched into the space remains in space, almost forever, unless it is specifically brought down or slowly disintegrates over decades or centuries.
Satellites that are past their life and are no longer required also remain in space, orbiting aimlessly in some orbit.
According to the NASA, there were 19,137 man-made objects in space that were large enough to be tracked.
These included active and inactive satellites, rockets and their parts, and other small fragments.
A satellite that is destroyed by a missile disintegrates into small pieces, and adds to the space debris.
The threat from the space debris is that it could collide with the operational satellites and render them dysfunctional.