China debris threatens Indian satellites

[justanobserver]

The main reason why I am not letting this episode go is because I am annoyed, stunned, and frustrated by some Indians' lack of ethics in a debate, which I call debate ethnics.

Justifying the unjustifiable, arguing the unarguable, what kind of debate is that? This is the worst thing that has happened to me ever since I got in this forum. I am really pissed off.

The true meaning of tallboy's post is so simple and plain, even a 6-year kid is able to figure out what he was saying. But people still have the nerve to tell me otherwise. What's wrong with you, people?

I can say even tallboy doesn't dare to claim that he means "India has the most remote sensing satellites" when he was posting those words, do you, tallboy?

You're taking these forums way too seriously

 

[BigTree.CN]

You're taking these forums way too seriously

I guess I am taking some Indians too seriously. I overestimated them.

 

[BigTree.CN]

you are stunned because you are still an amature and got no common sense ,what he meant to say !! Now stop whining about if someone really smacked you hard mate... If you don't like to post then wrap up ya Usual B.S and post some in other thread but not here..

I am stunned because I fail to realize Indians like you can be so retarded and shameless.

Your behavior lives up to a Chinese idiom "死皮赖脸"(brazen-faced and unreasonable).

 

[GORKHALI]

I am stunned because I fail to realize Indians like you can be so retarded and shameless.

Your behavior lives up to a Chinese idiom "死皮赖脸"(brazen-faced and unreasonable).

Man !damn you are such a shameless creature ,why you hanging out here if you are pissed off ??
There n idiom in Hindi and suits you so much -Naach na jaane ,aagan teda Rough translation - Why blame other,when you the one who is idiot ...

 

[CardSharp]

Chinese ASAT Test Raises Debris Threat to EO Sats
As of March 9, the total space debris created by China's Jan. 11 test of an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon had leapt to 1,500 pieces(1) and counting—and those are just the larger bits that can be seen. According to Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist for NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, the Chinese test “represents the most prolific and serious fragmentation in the course of 50 years of space operations.”(2)
Unfortunately for operators of Earth observation (EO) satellites, China's destruction of the aging Fengyun-1C (FY-1C) weather satellite happened right smack in the middle of their neighborhood at an altitude of 860 kilometers in the highly popular sun-synchronous, polar orbit. Not only does the new debris represent an increased near- and mid-term threat to today's satellites, the specter of further tests—or wartime use—of destructive, direct-ascent ASATs poses an even greater threat to the existence of all EO operations. Even more unfortunately, there are no easy options for eluding those threats.

Code Red for LEO?
The Chinese space debris now being tracked by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network has migrated from the FY-1C impact point to become a cloud stretching from 3,850 kilometers high down to about 200 kilometers, in essence polluting all of low Earth orbit (LEO). Again, this is only what can be seen: debris chunks larger than 10 centimeters in diameter, about the size of a baseball. NASA is estimating that at least 35,000 smaller pieces of FY-1C (between one and 10 centimeters in diameter) are also floating in the same general vicinity. Such debris may be small, but it can be deadly. Traveling at 10 times the speed of a rifle bullet, even flecks of paint can be hazardous to a satellite's health. According to Johnson, any of the Chinese debris bits “has the potential for seriously disrupting or terminating the mission of operational spacecraft in low Earth orbit.”(3)

Owned and/or operated by 33 countries plus the European Space Agency, 130 known Earth imaging satellites (commercial, civil and military) are active today. Of that total, at least 102 will routinely pass through the new debris cloud.(4)

Source:Code Red? Chinese ASAT Test Raises Debris Threat to EO Sats | Center for Earth Observing and Space Research

That wasn't the part I was doubting. Prove that this debris affects Indian satellites differently than other satellites in the same orbit.

 

[Tin Man]

Its a threat to all. Indians simply happened to be the first to raise the issue.

 

[tanlixiang28776]

Its a threat to all. Indians simply happened to be the first to raise the issue.

No it was Americans

 

[PoKeMon]

I am saying you are complaining too much, which is unproportional to the number of your satellites in the space.

I am having only one satellite or let me have none, Is that debarr me my right of complaining?
For god sake a clean and un-armed space is good for all.
How can extent of complaining can be quantified?
Is amout of concern and thinking are absolute quantity proportional to something?
Please refrain from personel attack.

 

[faithfulguy]

Its a threat to all. Indians simply happened to be the first to raise the issue.

No it was Americans

We can track the debris and maneuver the space assets out of the way of the debris. I doubt if India has similar capabilities as us. So in this regard, the debris are more of a threat to Indian satellites because they would be sitting ducks for debris shooting at them.

 

[GUNS-N- ROSES]

We can track the debris and maneuver the space assets out of the way of the debris. I doubt if India has similar capabilities as us. So in this regard, the debris are more of a threat to Indian satellites because they would be sitting ducks for debris shooting at them.

all advance staellites have limited manoeuvrability. so for a sec dont think u r all alone in this field.

but the fact is, it is simply not desirable to do that. the communications and other functions are likely to get affected if that happens.

 

[faithfulguy]

all advance staellites have limited manoeuvrability. so for a sec dont think u r all alone in this field.

but the fact is, it is simply not desirable to do that. the communications and other functions are likely to get affected if that happens.

I'm certain that they are maneuverable. But its another matter to track the debris. And I don't think anyone can track them like how NASA track them.

 

[BlueDot_in_Space]

We can track the debris and maneuver the space assets out of the way of the debris. I doubt if India has similar capabilities as us. So in this regard, the debris are more of a threat to Indian satellites because they would be sitting ducks for debris shooting at them.

My dear friend, US can track debris and can maneuver a space plane, but to maneuver a satellite will require

1) Sensor either on the satellite or another satellite that can monitor all other satellites in every orbit. (very hard)
2) Every time you come across a debri cloud you will have to fire the satellite thrusters, which will use up the fuel stored in the satellites for its orbit correction during its life time. This means you are reducing the age of the satellite. (hardly sensible)

 

[Bigoren]

Same old thing. I thought we have already passed that view, why India not testing the ASAT. Now why turn around now!!!!

But now India has ASAT capability.

nice BS.Where is actual test???Show us otherwise who care what he talked. He can say he own the UFO too.

 

[Yeti]

Actually it was not only India who took this matter up many countries in the west also mentioned a 'possible' arms race in space being a major concern.

 

[Yeti]

China's Anti-Satellite Test: Worrisome Debris Cloud Circles Earth | Space.com


The flotsam created by China's anti-satellite test last month is on the radar screens of space debris analysts, as well as space policy experts.

The intentional destruction on Jan. 11 of China's Fengyun-1C weather satellite via an anti-satellite (ASAT) device launched by the Chinese has created a mess of fragments fluttering through space.

The satellite's destruction is now being viewed as the most prolific and severe fragmentation in the course of five decades of space operations.

Lobbed into space atop a ballistic missile, the ASAT destroyed the weather-watching satellite that had been orbiting Earth since May 10, 1999 [image]. The result was littering Earth orbit with hundreds upon hundreds of various sizes of shrapnel.

Debris cloud

NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center is now at liberty to discuss the characteristics and consequences of the debris cloud created by the fragmentation of the Fengyun-1C spacecraft.

As of today, the U.S. military's Space Surveillance Network has cataloged nearly 600 debris fragments, according to NASA's Nicholas Johnson, Chief Scientist for Orbital Debris at the space agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

However, more than 300 additional fragments are also being tracked, bringing it to a total of more than 900 bits of clutter. "These will be cataloged in due course," Johnson added.

"The total count of tracked objects could go even higher. Based upon the mass of Fengyun-1C and the conditions of the breakup, the standard NASA model for estimating the number of objects greater than 4 inches (10 centimeters) in size predicts a total about 950 such debris," Johnson advised SPACE.com.

Most prolific and serious fragmentation

Johnson said that the debris cloud extends from less than 125 miles (200 kilometers) to more than 2,292 miles (3,850 kilometers), encompassing all of low Earth orbit. The majority of the debris have mean altitudes of 528 miles (850 kilometers) or greater, "which means most will be very long-lived," he said.

The number of smaller orbital debris from this breakup is much higher than the 900-plus being tracked. NASA estimates that the number of debris larger than 1 centimeter is greater than 35,000 bits of riff-raff.

"Any of these debris has the potential for seriously disrupting or terminating the mission of operational spacecraft in low Earth orbit," Johnson pointed out. "This satellite breakup represents the most prolific and serious fragmentation in the course of 50 years of space operations," he said.

Also put in harm's way by the rain of junk from the Chinese ASAT test is the International Space Station (ISS).

"The collision risk between the Fengyun-1C debris cloud and the International Space Station peaked shortly after the breakup and has been declining since. The risk of collisions between ISS and hazardous objects in Earth orbit is now once again dominated by the background debris population existing prior to the breakup of Fengyun-1C," Johnson said.

Collision of coincidences

Last year's signing by U.S. President George W. Bush of a new U.S. National Space Policy addressed the topic of orbital debris. The document flagged the progress made both nationally and internationally regarding proliferation of orbital debris over the past decade - but also underscored the worrisome nature of space junk.

"Orbital debris poses a risk to continued reliable use of space-based services and operations and to the safety of persons and property in space and on Earth," the White House document stated. "The United States shall seek to minimize the creation of orbital debris by government and non-government operations in space in order to preserve the space environment for future generations."

In a collision of coincidences, the 25th meeting of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) is slated for April 23-26 and is hosted by the China National Space Administration. The meeting is to be held at the China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing.

IADC is an international governmental forum for the worldwide coordination of activities related to the issues of human-made and natural debris in space.

Also, reactions spurred by China's ASAT actions are sure to surface later this month at a meeting of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna.

On the UN agenda is the potential approval of draft Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines that were hammered out last year.