India Triumphs High In Space

India successfully tested an anti-satellite (A-Sat) missile to destroy an orbiting satellite at an altitude of almost 300 KM on Wednesday, jettisoning its longstanding reluctance to flex military muscle in space. In the process, it joined an exclusive club of the US, Russia, and China that posses this deadly capability.

India test-fired the three-stage interceptor missile from the APJ Abdul Kalam island off the Odisha coast at 11.10 am. A little over an hour later, PM Narendra Modi announced the success of MISSION SHAKTI in a televised address to the nation.

The 18-tonne missile, with two solid rocket boosters, tore into space to hit the 740 kg satellite, flying in a low earth orbit (LEO), bang in the middle barely three minutes after its launch over the Bay of Bengal.

Defence Research and Development Organisation chief Sateesh Reddy said that while work on the ballistic missile defence (BMD) programme was going in for years, "the project only got the official go-ahead about two years ago. And we got into mission mode only six months ago".

A top defence scientist added, “ The mission was a direct ascent kinetic kill. The relative velocity between the missile and the orbiting Microsat-R satellite, which was launched by ISRO on January 24 for the test, was around 10KM per second."

Though the A-Sat missile was tested for a 300KM altitude, DRDO scientists are confident it can go up to 1000 km if required. "We need the capability to neutralize surveillance, communication, navigation, and other military satellites during a conflict to render enemy forces deaf and blind as well as disrupt their precision targeting capabilities,” a defence source said.