On 27 March 2019 as part of ‘Mission Shakti’, Indian Scientists destroyed a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite with an Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile based on Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) interceptor. Following the successful test, Prime Minster Narendra Modi announced in a televised address to the nation that "India can now defend itself in space, and not just on land, water, and air, after the success of Mission Shakti". He further stated that the ASAT missile had shot down the Low Earth Orbit satellite within "three minutes of launch", with remarkable precision and technical capability, and India has emerged as the fourth country to have tested such an ASAT weapon after the United States, Russia and China.
A technological mission carried out by DRDO, the 18-tonne ASAT weapon consisting of two solid rocket boosters plus a ‘terminal stage’ was launched from the complex on Wheeler Island, off the Odisha Coast, the target being one of India's existing LEO satellites. The test, which required an extremely high degree of precision and technical capability was “fully successful and achieved all parameters as per plans and successfully demonstrated its capability to interdict and intercept a satellite in outer space based on complete indigenous technology”. The ASAT weapon lifted off at 11:09:30 hrs, the first stage separated at 45 km altitude at 11:10:45 hrs, the second stage separated at 110 km height at 11:11:17 hrs, followed by highly challenging Imaging Infra-Red (IIR) lock on to the target 740 kg Microsat-R satellite at 11:12:10 hrs. The target was eliminated by the Kinetic Kill Vehicle (KKV) at 11:15 hrs at a height of 274 km in hit-to-kill mode. The specific interceptor is reported to be lethal as far as 1,000 km.
Although not specifically stated, valuable telemetry data was possibly contributed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) - developed EL/M-2080 Green Pine (Swordfish) and Super Green Pine radar systems. Developed from the ELTA Music phased-array radar, Green Pine is a dual mode, electronically scanned, solid state, phased array radar operating at L-band in the range 500 MHz to 1,000 MHz, which weighs 60 tonnes and comprises 2,000 transmit-receive modules.
As India's space programme is a critical backbone of the nation’s security, economic and social infrastructure, India has undertaken 102 spacecraft missions consisting of Communication Satellites (COMSAT), earth observation satellites, experimental satellites, navigation satellites, apart from satellites meant for scientific research and exploration, academic studies plus micro satellites. Against this backdrop, such successful engagement of the target satellite at LEO ensured proven capability against hostile Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR) satellites, hostile armed satellites aimed at our space based assets, and incoming ballistic missiles. As the interception was made at lower orbit, the problem of space debris will also be minimal since the particles will quickly burn out after entering Earth’s atmosphere.
India, which is a signatory to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (ratified it in 1982), however supports the substantive consideration of the issue of Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) in the Conference on Disarmament where it has been on the agenda since 1982. A party to all the major international treaties relating to Outer Space, India already implements a number of Transparency & Confidence Building Measures (TCBM) including registering space objects with the UN register, prelaunch notifications, measures in harmony with the UN Space Mitigation Guidelines, participation in Inter Agency Space Debris Coordination (IADC) activities with regard to space debris management, undertaking Space Object Proximity Awareness (SOPA) and Collision Avoidance (COLA) Analysis and numerous international cooperation activities, including hosting the UN affiliated Centre for Space and Science Technology Education in Asia and Pacific.
India has been participating in all sessions of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. In future, India expects to play a role in the drafting of international law on prevention of an arms race in outer space including inter alia on the prevention of the placement of weapons in outer space in its capacity as a major space faring nation with proven space technology.
Sayan Majumdar