On 15 November 2021, Russia successfully test-fired its anti-satellite missiles or ASAT's which was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome some 500 miles north of Moscow and about 400 miles northeast of Saint Petersburg.
Its target was the Kosmos 1408, a soviet satellite that was put into orbit in 1982. According to multiple reports, A-235 / PL-19 Nudol ASAT system has struck its target and it has resulted in the formation of dangerous space hubris which pose a significant to the International Space Station (ISS) and other space objects in orbit.
The Kosmos 1408 weighs around 4,400 lbs, and it is large enough to create a field of debris when destroyed. At least 1,500 trackable pieces, and countless more too small for detection, have been created as a result.
This development has raised serious alarm bells among the folks in Washington DC who see it as a threat to space security. Washington officials immediately condemned this incident. NASA administrator said in a statement on Monday, "Earlier today, due to the debris generated by the destructive Russian Anti-Satellite (ASAT) test, ISS astronauts and cosmonauts undertook emergency procedures for safety,"
Russia becomes the fourth nation after China, the United States, and India to have successfully destroyed their own satellites as tests and demonstrations of their own ground-launched missiles. It is a dubious distinction.
The physics of satellite destruction invariably means the creation of debris, and that debris, in turn, risks damage to all other objects it encounters. Every nation that has destroyed an object in orbit has at least some investment in satellites, and every debris cloud threatens its continued viability.
Of late, Russia has been test-firing its latest weapons system in what appears to be an indirect message to the US and its NATO allies over their interference in the conflict in Ukraine. Recently, the Russians tested their brand new Zircon hypersonic missiles which have a speed of more than Mach 5 (Mach 1= speed of sound).
Also watch: