Russian Direct Ascent ASAT Test Generates More Than 1,500 Pieces of Trackable Debris
Frank Wolfe
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U.S. Army Gen. James Dickinson, U.S. Space Command commander, and U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Mike Bernacchi, USSPACECOM Strategy, Plans and Policy director, greet Colin Kahl, Department of Defense Under Secretary of Defense for Policy on Nov. 2 at USSPACECOM headquarters, Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. Senior USSPACECOM leaders briefed Kahl on threats to the space domain and discussed the importance of responsible military space behavior. Officials from Joint Task Force-Space Defense briefed Kahl on its protect-and-defend mission (U.S. Space Command Photo)
The test of a Russian direct ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) weapon against one of that nation's non-functioning satellites generated more than 1,500 pieces of trackable debris and hundreds of thousands of smaller pieces, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Nov. 15. If true, the ASAT test would have thrown off roughly half the debris of a 2007 Chinese DA-ASAT test that created 3,000 pieces of orbital debris larger than 10 centimeters (Defense Daily, Nov. 17, 2020). Army Gen. James…
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