Russia confirms anti-satellite missile test, dismisses US 'space debris & danger' concerns

Russian Federation on Tuesday, 16 November admitted to conducting an anti-test of a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile against one of its own Soviet-era satellites that created nearly 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris in space and posed risk to astronaut’s security. While the United States called the move reckless, dangerous, and irresponsible, Russia on Tuesday defended its actions, explaining that it fired the missile satellite to outdo a defunct Soviet radio surveillance system Tselina-D, which is commonly known as the ‘Cosmos 1408’ in the West. The satellite has been in the orbit since 1982, Russia stated, according to Moscow’s TASS news agency.

"We indeed successfully tested our promising system," Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said Tuesday. He added, “It hit the old satellite with surgical precision.” He continued that the fragments of the 1,500 pieces of trackable space debris were so tiny that they would be hard to detect and do not pose any threat, Russia argued.

In an official press statement, Tuesday, Russian Defense Ministry said that the United States knows for a fact that “the fragments did not pose a threat due to the timing of the test and the orbit parameters and will be no threat to space stations, satellites, or space activities in the future.” The ministry further said that the fragments concerning the United states “have been added to the main catalog of the domestic space surveillance systems, and monitoring of them began immediately. Monitoring will continue until the fragments are gone."

Despite Russia’s justification, NASA administrator Bill Nelson registered shock over Russia’s rampant move and stated that he spoke with Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. In a tweet, the former expressed dismay over the danger to astronauts and cosmonauts onboard ISS. US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, lambasted Russia for conducting unilateral destructive space practices as he said at a presser that Russia “recklessly conducted a destructive test of a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile against one of its own satellites”.

[In this image from video provided by NASA, the International Space Station is seen as astronauts in the SpaceX Dragon capsule undock on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021, NASA via AP]

US labelled Russia's anti-satellite missile test as 'dangerous & irresponsible'

The United States had earlier lambasted Russia for conducting the anti-satellite missile test on one of its own satellites over the weekend, which shattered the satellite into more than 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and thousands of smaller fragments of space junk. The test also raised safety concerns for the astronauts stationed in the International Space Station (ISS), which had to arrange for an emergency evacuation.  

US Department of State spokesperson, Ned Price condemned Russia's move at a White House briefing by labelling it 'dangerous and irresponsible, as he said: “Earlier today, the Russian Federation recklessly conducted a destructive satellite test of a direct-ascent, anti-satellite missile against one of its own satellites." “Russia’s dangerous and irresponsible behaviour jeopardises the long-term sustainability of outer space and clearly demonstrates that Russia’s claims of opposing the weaponisation of space are disingenuous and hypocritical," he added.