The United States slammed Russia on Monday for conducting a ‘dangerous and irresponsible’ missile strike that blew up one of its own satellites, creating a debris cloud that forced the International Space Station’s crew to take evasive action.
Washington wasn’t informed in advance about the test, only the fourth to ever strike a satellite from the ground, and will talk to allies about how to respond, said officials.
The test reignites concerns about the growing space arms race, encompassing everything from the development of satellites capable of shunting others out of orbit to laser weapons.
‘Earlier today, the Russian Federation recklessly conducted a destructive satellite test of a direct ascent anti-satellite missile against one of its own satellites,’ US State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a briefing.
‘The test has so far generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris that now threaten the interests of all nations.’
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The crew aboard the orbital outpost — currently four Americans, a German and two Russians — had to take shelter in their return ships, the standard ‘safe haven’ protocol alarm procedure in the event of an emergency that might force evacuation.
The station later returned to a ‘green’ alert level, tweeted Russian space agency Roscosmos, but some of the space junk is likely to persist for years before it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere.
In his strongly-worded prepared remarks, Price said the danger was far from over.
‘Russia’s dangerous and irresponsible behavior jeopardizes the long-term sustainability of outer space and clearly demonstrates that Russia’s claims of opposing the weaponization of space are disingenuous and hypocritical,’ he said, adding the US would work with allies on a response.
The Pentagon also addressed reporters, in a sign of the incident’s strategic significance.
‘We watch closely the kinds of capabilities that Russia has seemed to want to develop, which could pose a threat not just to our national security interests, but the security incentives of other spacefaring nations,’ said spokesman John Kirby.
The target of the missile was Cosmos 1408, a 1982 Soviet signals intelligence satellite that has been defunct for several decades, according to space industry analysis company Seradata.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
