After concerns over orbital debris in the aftermath of the Mission Shakti anti-satellite (A-SAT) strike, DRDO chief G Satheesh Reddy on Saturday said that all debris should decay within 45 days from the day of the launch.

“Mission planning involved extensive simulation to ensure no damage due to debris. The high risk is in the first 10 days, that time frame gets over today. All debris should decay within 45 days from March 27,” said Reddy.

On March 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised address to the nation, announced that India has entered the elite club of nations to possess the capability to hit a target in space. India had shot down a live satellite in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO), a reference to altitude less than 2,000 km, said the PM. The other countries with such capability are the US, Russia and China.

Criticising India for the tests, NASA had described it as a “terrible, terrible” thing that had endangered the International Space Station (ISS). It also said that it will lead to creation of nearly 400 pieces of orbital debris. NASA also maintained that some of the debris posed a risk to astronauts on board the ISS.

Talking about the project, the DRDO chief said that 150 plus scientists took part in the exercise and around 40 were women.

According to Dr M Annadurai, former director of ISRO satellite centre in Bengaluru, the problem of space debris is a wider issue. “Space debris is composed of satellites, parts of launch vehicles, etc. The only difference with the debris from the anti-satellite mission is that a satellite would be a larger piece weighing a few tonnes, the debris from the destroyed satellite would be smaller,” he said.

With 830 satellites, US leads the world in the number of satellites, followed by China with 280 satellites. India has 54 satellites.

First Published: Apr 06, 2019 16:27 IST