NASA: India's Anti-Satellite Test Could Threaten Space Station

The International Space Station is being threatened by a cloud of high-velocity debris created by the test of an Indian anti-satellite weapon last week, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told agency employees in a town hall meeting in Washington, CBS News reported on Tuesday.

Although Indian officials insisted the threat was minimal, Bridenstine said the test created at least 400 pieces of debris, including 60 trackable fragments that are at least four inches across.

At least 24 of those fragments are expected to steadily lose altitude, making them a threat that may mean American and Russian flight controllers will have to occasionally reposition the space station to minimize the odds of a collision, which could potentially be catastrophic.

Bridenstine said that NASA determined that the risk of small debris hitting the space station was increased by 44 percent over a period of 10 days, according to NPR.

He said such a situation was “unacceptable and NASA needs to be very clear about what its impact to us is."

Bridenstine added that "That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris in an apogee that goes above the International Space Station. And that kind of activity is not compatible with the future of human space flight that we need to see happen."

India's Ministry of External Affairs insisted that "the test was done in the lower atmosphere to ensure that there is no space debris. Whatever debris that is generated will decay and fall back onto the earth within weeks," CBS News reported.

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