US, UK condemn Russian anti-satellite missile test
The Russian ASAT test has raised concerns about the safety of orbital assets. (Photo: NASA)
US Space Command (USSPACECOM) has stated that Russia conducted a test of a direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) missile against its own Cosmos 1408 satellite.
Military and civil authorities from the UK and US have come down harshly against Russia following the ASAT missile test that created 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris.
USSPACECOM said that its initial assessment showed the debris would remain in orbit ‘for years and potentially for decades’, posing a risk to the International Space Station (ISS), other crewed spaceflights and ‘multiple countries’ satellites’.
On 16 November, in a statement carried by the Interfax news agency, the Russian MoD confirmed it had conducted the ASAT missile test, claiming the fragments created did not pose a threat ‘to orbital stations, spacecraft and
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