
First debris pieces from the Indian ASAT test of 27 March catalogued - scottie_m
https://sattrackcam.blogspot.com
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moh_maya
Previous discussion on HN [1].

Re. the orbit, note that this was a test in LEO, at 300 km orbit; all the
debris will, in relatively short order, be de-orbited. [2]

While I will not indulge in the whataboutism of CN & USA conducting these, one
potential strategic reason for India to test was to ensure a their perspective
was heard at the (then) upcoming discussions on the "Space Peace Treaty" [3].
It's tempting to say such symbols of act & intent do not matter, but they
force others to take you seriously & engage with you. India was excluded from
the NSG and many other such programs in the past.

FWIW, please do not trivialize the realities & complexities of geopolitics by
simplistic moral grand-standing. While undesirable, there were real domestic &
international reasons to conduct the test. To treat such a decision as mere
posturing, or some sort of crude symbolism, ignores the context within which
such decisions are taken, and presumes that the technocrats who took these
decisions did so unmindful of the consequences.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19590936](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19590936)
[2] [https://in.reuters.com/article/us-india-satellite/india-
says...](https://in.reuters.com/article/us-india-satellite/india-says-space-
debris-from-anti-satellite-test-to-vanish-in-45-days-idINKCN1R91DM) [3]
[https://phys.org/news/2019-03-space-peace-treaty-
consensus.h...](https://phys.org/news/2019-03-space-peace-treaty-
consensus.html)

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walrus01
The really worrisome thing about this is that they seemingly _just had to_ do
their test vs a polar orbit/highly inclined orbit satellite. The odds of
killing something in a polar orbit in the Iridium NeXT satellite network are
non-zero. This is because the Iridium satellite orbits and the debris orbits
all converge over the poles.

There's a lot of important non telecom related things that are in highly
inclined orbits, such as earth observation satellites.

~~~
swiley
Wow that's pretty irresponsible! How did they

1) think that was a good idea

and

2) get away with it

~~~
dilawar
Elections are going on and current ruling party had a knack for weapons
(importing and testing). They think it gets them some votes.

And if China can get away with it...

~~~
someonenice
Election might have determined the timing of the tests. But the test would
nevertheless be carried out some time or other.

