
India successfully shoots down satellite in space - nagarc
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-successfully-shoots-down-satellite-in-space-pm-modi/articleshow/68593732.cms
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KorematsuFred
To give a context to why this is important (even though technologically it is
much easier to shoot a satellite).

Western Nations often have this tendency of pass international laws with
exceptions for themselves using ridiculous arguments. Such as nuclear
proliferation treaties which allows existing nuclear powers to build more
nuclear war heads but does not allow others to build even the first nuke.

India's NSA Ajit Doval in 2011 had pointed out that this is going to happen to
satellite sabotage as well. The existing players will gang up to ban such
weapons while making exemptions for themselves. By publicly showing and
acknowledging this capability India has ensured a seat at the table in future.

~~~
vaguesortof
We're already working on putting missiles and directed energy in space at my
job in missile defense. They are 'defensive' missiles but the new ones they're
putting up there will have offensive capabilities as well

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Cactus2018
The first minutes of WWIII will see a multitude of satellites shot 'down',
followed by cascading space debris beget space junk.

""In the journey of every nation there are moments that bring utmost pride and
have a historic impact on generations to come. One such moment is today,""
U+1F644

~~~
0xfaded
U+1F644 is the codepoint for "Face with eyes looking up to sky watching
cascading space debris mark the beginning of WW3", in case anyone was
wondering.

[https://codepoints.net/U+1F644](https://codepoints.net/U+1F644)

~~~
azeirah
I was really hoping for a "418 - I'm a teapot" kind of situation here :(

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dajohnson89
I hope it was shot down in a manner that doesnt produce more space junk, which
is already acknowledged as a serious problem!

~~~
yumraj
According to the FAQ put out by Gov of India [0]

 _V. Does the test create space debris?

The test was done in the lower atmosphere to ensure that there is no space
debris. Whatever debris that is generated will decay and fall back onto the
earth within weeks._

[0] [https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/soon-after-pm-address-
foreig...](https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/soon-after-pm-address-foreign-
ministry-puts-out-faqs-on-mission-shakti-2013564)

~~~
natch
Unless some pieces were boosted higher by the explosion. But I guess they are
confident this could never happen.

~~~
6gvONxR4sf7o
Orbits are periodic. If it is boosted up, it'll come back down. Orbital decay
will still happen.

~~~
delinka
Eventually.

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droithomme
Satellites are sitting ducks. This feat is as admirable as kicking down a
sandcastle on the beach.

We need an international treaty banning this because the detritus produced in
the form of hundreds of thousands of new fragments in orbit is one of the
largest threats to future space development.

~~~
bsmith
Aren't little bits of debris in LEO going to fall back into the atmosphere and
burn up pretty quickly, though? Not an expert here, but I think there is
enough atmosphere left at standard LEO altitudes that thrusters are needed
semi-regularly to keep these things in orbit. Granted, some debris may get
launched into a weird elliptical orbit that takes them farther away from Earth
for a bit, but then won't they come right back into the atmosphere at perigee
and burn up?

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walrus01
The thing about shooting down another nation's satellites in a military
conflict - your own satellites are equally as vulnerable. It's like starting a
nuclear war.

I certainly hope that among the nations and people who are developing these
weapons, they have a number of game theory people who have thoroughly
considered all of the ramifications of mutually assured destruction.

In a major conflict, the US and Russia have a number of geostationary and MEO
orbit military satellite communications systems which are outside of the reach
of any LEO antisatellite weapons (capable of shooting down things up in up to
approximately 550x550km circular orbits).

On an Indian specific note, this threat has to be aimed only at whatever
Pakistan might put into orbit. At present Pakistan has negligible ability to
launch anything themselves, and very little actual Pakistani
owned/manufactured/controlled satellites in low earth orbit. But who else can
it possibly be considered a threat to?

India is hopefully not foolish enough to think that they could get into a
shooting war with China and come out ahead.

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abhinai
I wonder why the prime minister felt the need to announce this himself. If I
remember correctly the Chinese premier did not announce their test.

~~~
nindalf
Modi takes the credit for anything achieved by the government or government
backed entities like the space organisation. He singlehandedly opened bank
accounts (that are empty), surgically struck Pakistan (with his bare hands),
got us to space, developed missiles, brought the black money back, won the
cricket world cup, created jobs, built the mandir (that's built, right?) and a
million other achievements.

What's curious is that he seems to go missing when there's a fuck up. Who was
responsible for demonetization? No idea, blame anyone you want but don't blame
him!

~~~
eklavya
Sure, why not? Take credit for whatever you have done, it's naive to think
that politicians will not showcase their work. Tell me what do you write in
your resume?

Finding personal faults with any public person is pointless (as in having an
effect on you). What matters is whether the results are good/bad.

~~~
nindalf
I have 2 issues with what Modi does

* His list of achievements is absurd and factually incorrect, and he rarely gives credit to others who contributed.

* He hates criticism and tries to muzzle it. A politician should not interfere with the press but he does so. He has gotten journalists fired because they criticised him.

~~~
kumarharsh
He's always reflected the praise towards the scientific community as far as I
can see:

Just read the tweets on his profile... A sample:
[https://mobile.twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1110862796437...](https://mobile.twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1110862796437114880)

It's like... Damned if you do, Damned if you don't.

If you're going to blindly criticise anyone without considering things out of
your bubble, that's your prerogative.

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nashadelic
Strangely, I'm not seeing a wide enough condemnation of this. Another country
is building destructive weapons, bringing down LEOs; how is this a good thing?
All the while the region suffers from chronic poverty, poor access to clean
water and basic services.

Sending a science mission to space is great and rightly lauded, this is
wasteful and energies spent better elsewhere.

~~~
FreedomToCreate
Advancing your countries technological capability and dealing with one of the
largest populations living in poverty are two separate endeavors. Expecting a
country to abandon growth in one sector to improve another is not really
sensible. Both challenges are being tackled simultaneously. The US conducted
Apollo and the Mars missions, spending billions while people in Skid Row or
Detroit live in 3rd world level poverty.

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stunt
Such a huge step toward more peace in the world. What do you expect when world
major democracy advocates are also the world major weapon sellers.

I don't think there is any technological glory on destroying a satellite that
deserves such a public announcement. Perhaps it is far less complicated than
putting a satellite into space which is what India was already good at it.

~~~
vtbprog
>>I don't think there is any technological glory on destroying a satellite

We are talking about the capability to track and destroy a live satellite in
space in under a span of 3 minutes with precision. There is a significant
amount of technology involved here right from the types of propellants,
precise navigation controls to steer rock in a specific direction...all of
which has been developed indigenously. This technology can be easily used in
other space programs for civilian applications.

Not sure on what basis you are considering this as not being technologically
significant.

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wyred
Just wondering, is it possible to use a big enough mirror and just reflect
sunlight to do the same thing? Though this only means satellites can only be
destroyed during daytime.

~~~
kumarharsh
It will also ionize the air in an extreme manner, probably rendering the
surrounding environment impossible to be in.

For a rough estimate, see this: [https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/](https://what-
if.xkcd.com/13/)

~~~
diminoten
Mirror could be out in space, so it won't light our atmosphere on fire!

~~~
Infinity15
This mirror would be shot down :P

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doe88
Does the fact it was on low orbite would mitigate the risk of adding-up even
more space debris to the current graveyard of debris? I remember it was a big
concern/critique when China did its own attempt. I don't know enough about
this test/space to tell if it's different this time.

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bobbydreamer
So future will be like satellites will be loaded with missiles. Entire thing
will look like mine field later.

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SEJeff
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome)
:(

~~~
foxyv
In cases where the satellite is orbiting low, Kessler shouldn't be a problem.
In this case the satellite was at 300km and the pieces would decay in less
than a year. Even if pieces were pushed into a higher orbit by the explosion,
they would still dip down to 300km periodically and decay just a little
longer.

Example:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_decay#/media/File:Alti...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_decay#/media/File:Altitude_of_Tiangong-1.svg)

~~~
SEJeff
Ah that is great to know. I believe the Chinese asat test was around 500 or so
miles and it caused a real mess of debris.

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dugluak
Well done DRDO and well publicized by the PM office.

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mobilemidget
Is there any video/photo footage of this?

We can see space-x events from 32 different angles and audio of everything
happening, I kind of assume you would record these events too?

~~~
z3phyr
Its a weapons program. They won't release missile footage publicly.

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techie128
This is critical for the geopolitical stability of the region. Pakistan, China
have traditionally assumed that India lacks the political will as well as the
technological capacity to build advanced weapons such as these. This will be a
big deterrence and help bring it peace to the region.

I would not be surprised if India announces ICBMs in the next 5 years. A
country that can place 100s of satellites in space as well as place
geostationary satellites, has the necessary rocket technology to build an
ICBM. Just because they don't talk about it, doesn't mean they can't do it.

I think India is in the midst of adopting an active deterrence policy. Being
passive hasn't yielded good results.

~~~
shripadk
India already has ICBMs. Read about Agni-V here:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agni-V](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agni-V)

