The likelihood of a collision between pieces of a destroyed Indian satellite and the International Space Station (ISS) is not high but some of these parts are small and hard to track, Sergey Krikalev, director of manned spaceflight at Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos said in an interview with Sputnik on Thursday.

"Not all these pieces are possible to track. The reflectivity of the small ones is low, so, probably, it is impossible [to track them]. Though the likelihood of a collision is not high, it is better to keep them in mind for ensuring the station's safety", Krikalev said.

In late March, India successfully destroyed the Microsat-R satellite in low-Earth orbit as part of an anti-missile weapon test. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised this as a benchmark event, stressing that the test has proven India's ability to safeguard its space assets.

NASA has meanwhile slammed the test, saying that it had created at least 50 pieces of debris, increasing the risk of the ISS colliding with debris by 44 percent. India's neigbour, Pakistan, has also lashed out at the test, saying that it threatens regional security.

Moscow, for its part, has stated that anti-satellite tests conducted recently by India are largely the result of the deteriorating situation in the arms control sphere, caused by US actions

Source: RIA Novosti

Related Links
Russian Space Agency
Space Technology News - Applications and Research

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Ridding space of old satellites and debris
Colorado Springs (AFP) April 11, 2019
With constellations of thousands of telecommunication mini satellites expected to orbit Earth in the near future, the risk of space-debris collisions will grow. For Nobu Okada, it's an opportunity. The 46-year-old Japanese entrepreneur founded the start-up Astroscale in Singapore in 2013 with the sole aim of launching "space sweepers." The company - now based in Tokyo - has 71 employees. A demonstration will take place in 2020 when an Astroscale satellite will capture one of the company's own ... read more