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US stops testing anti-satellite missiles after Russia’s ‘field of debris’

According to CNBC, US Vice President Kamala Harris announced on April 18 that he was committed to ending testing anti-satellite missilewhile calling for a global agreement.

An anti-satellite weapon test, or ASAT, is a rocket launch aimed at disused satellites and spacecraft in orbit to destroy them. However, reality shows that this experiment not only does not deal well with space junk, but can also create more dangerous “garbage clouds”.

The US stopped testing anti-satellite missiles after Russia's field of debris - Photo 1.

An SM-3 missile launched from the US Navy’s USS Lake Erie on a mission to destroy a broken satellite in 2008. Photo: US Department of Defense

There are four countries in the world that have conducted anti-satellite missile tests, including the US, Russia, India and China.

According to Space News, Vice President Harris, who is also the chairman of the National Space Council, acknowledged that destroying space objects through the test of a straight-flying ASAT rocket was “reckless and irresponsible”. Closing the ASAT trials, she said, is part of a “common understanding of responsible and safe space operations”.

There are now warnings from many countries and NGOs that their satellites are at risk of trouble from the debris that this type of test creates.

Controversy over this type of testing began after an incident late last year, when Russia attempted to destroy a Soviet-era satellite with ASAT on November 15. The test created a “field of debris” in Earth’s orbit, which the US counted up to 1,500 pieces.

Russia believes that these small pieces of debris will not pose a danger to operating space stations, spacecraft or satellites. However, scientists working on the International Space Station (ISS) still had to move into shelter when the station’s orbit passed the debris cloud.

The incident has raised global concern because according to scientists, the consequences cannot be foreseen and there is no guarantee that a similar incident will not occur in other countries’ ASAT testing.

Vice President Harris said another Chinese anti-satellite missile launch in 2007 also left 2,800 pieces of debris.

The last time the US conducted an ASAT test was in 2008, when the US Navy launched a modified SM-3 missile to destroy the malfunctioning National Reconnaissance Office’s US-193 satellite.

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