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Does India's Anti-Satellite Missile Test Mean The Weaponization of Space? (reuters.com)
Reuters reports:
India expects space debris from its anti-satellite weapons launch to burn out in less than 45 days, its top defense scientist said on Thursday, seeking to allay global concern about fragments hitting objects. The comments came a day after India said it used an indigenously developed ballistic missile interceptor to destroy one of its own satellites at a height of 300 km (186 miles), in a test aimed at boosting its defenses in space.
Critics say such technology, known to be possessed only by the United States, Russia and China, raises the prospect of an arms race in outer space, besides posing a hazard by creating a cloud of fragments that could persist for years. G. Satheesh Reddy, the chief of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation, said a low-altitude military satellite was picked for the test, to reduce the risk of debris left in space.
Space.com shared a reaction from a national security affairs professor at Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. They argued that India's test "likely represents a feeling by other countries, specifically India in this case, that the weaponization of space is forthcoming, and India doesn't want to be left out of the 'have' category if arms-control agreements are eventually reached."
Critics say such technology, known to be possessed only by the United States, Russia and China, raises the prospect of an arms race in outer space, besides posing a hazard by creating a cloud of fragments that could persist for years. G. Satheesh Reddy, the chief of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation, said a low-altitude military satellite was picked for the test, to reduce the risk of debris left in space.
Space.com shared a reaction from a national security affairs professor at Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. They argued that India's test "likely represents a feeling by other countries, specifically India in this case, that the weaponization of space is forthcoming, and India doesn't want to be left out of the 'have' category if arms-control agreements are eventually reached."
India is a typical failed nation.
New Delhi wastes money on military satellites and nuclear weapons when most Indians live in poverty. By contrast, when Poland was an impoverished nation, Warsaw deliberately refused to spend money on military satellites and nuclear weapons; the Polish government spent most of its resources on economic development.
Today, India remains economically poor, but Poland is relatively wealthy.
Among the Russian elites, supporters of Vladimir Putin use India to justify rejecting democracy. They point to the poverty and poor governance in India. They recommend autocratic China as a model for Russian development.
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Of course it's a question. The militarization of space has been possible for a long time, but the world's space-faring powers signed a treaty outlawing space-based weapons. Maybe update your calendar past 1966 and understand why this is a significant change in the status quo.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Anti-ICBM systems don't leave crap in orbital space, it's all sub-orbital, on both sides.
You can't fix Kessler Syndrome by turning it off and on again. Who would've thought it would be India that started it.
Does India's Anti-Satellite Missile Test Mean The Weaponization of Space
I thought it meant the dawn of a new era of peace, love, reason and understanding. No?
It means ugh. I'd love to see their math on how the know the debris will drop out in 45 days. Ohh wait they "expect" it to drop out. These must be smart people that know the pats of all the debris. Killing satellites is actually pretty easy. It is a broad side of the barn type accuracy needed.
Pretty much if you can get a rocket to orbital velocity and make it go kaboom, you are 90 percent of the way there.
The utter stupidity of humans amazes me though. The US and the old Soviet Union understood and worked within the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction. China understands this now. Sending up Satellite killers is neither difficult nor smart.
Our first war in space will be our last one for a long, long time. And it will destroy a lot of things that are very beneficial to everyone, as well as destroy things that are beneficial to the country that thinks it is smart to put a lot of high velocity space debris in orbit.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.