Anti-Satellite Weapons – Spaceflight Now

U.S. officials say Russia tested a new anti-satellite weapon

July 23, 2020 Stephen Clark

U.S. and British government officials said Thursday they have evidence that Russia tested a space-based anti-satellite weapon, citing an event July 15 when analysts say a Russian military satellite launched a mysterious projectile into orbit at high speed.

U.S. officials condemn Russian anti-satellite test

April 16, 2020 Stephen Clark

The U.S. military’s chief of space operations rebuked a test of a Russian anti-satellite missile Wednesday, although the test did not apparently target and destroy a spacecraft in orbit.

NASA chief slams India anti-satellite test

April 2, 2019 William Harwood

The successful test of an Indian anti-satellite weapon March 27 created a cloud of high-velocity debris that poses a near-term threat to other spacecraft in low-Earth orbit, including the International Space Station, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told agency employees Monday. Indian officials said the threat was minimal.

Indian military satellite, 20 more Planet imaging CubeSats launched by PSLV

April 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle blasted off and successfully deployed a military electronic surveillance satellite and 28 nanosatellites for companies in the United States, Lithuania, Spain and Switzerland at two different altitudes Monday, before the rocket’s upper stage began an extended mission as a solar-powered experiment platform in low Earth orbit.

Live coverage: New configuration of India’s PSLV launches for first time

April 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

India debuted a new configuration of its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, featuring four strap-on boosters and an upper stage with solar arrays to generate electrical power, with a liftoff at 0357 GMT Monday (11:57 p.m. EDT Sunday). The mission lofted an Indian military satellite and 28 nanosatellites for companies in the United States, Lithuania, Spain and Switzerland.

India’s PSLV poised for launch with 29 satellites

March 31, 2019 Stephen Clark

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is scheduled for liftoff Sunday night with an intelligence-gathering electronic surveillance satellite and 28 secondary payloads, including 20 Earth-imaging Dove nanosatellites for Planet, the U.S. company which criticized India’s anti-satellite test for generating space debris last week.

U.S. military sensors track debris from Indian anti-satellite test

March 27, 2019 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Air Force was tracking at least 270 debris fragments created by an Indian anti-satellite missile test, but the debris field posed no immediate threat to the International Space Station or most other satellites in low Earth orbit, a senior U.S. military official said Wednesday in a congressional hearing.