Combined with NASA and other media reports, on November 15, Russia conducted an anti-satellite test, launching a 1982 launched scrap satellite Cosmos-1408 destroyed by an A235 anti-missile missile, and the US Space Force 18SPCS satellite has monitored this anti-satellite test, which produced more than 1500 traceable debris, the latest orbital parameters are 465×490 km ×80.56 °, in addition to hundreds of thousands of tiny debris.
Because the orbital altitude of Cosmos-1408 satellite debris is higher than that of the International Space Station and the Chinese space station, which is about 400 km high, it is lower than the starlink and other low-orbit navigation satellites at a height of 500 to 700 km. Therefore, the debris generated by it will be widely scattered on the low Earth orbit with a height of 300 km to 700 km, which will seriously endanger the space environment safety of the low Earth orbit in a short period of time!
The debris cloud of Cosmos-1408 is at risk of collision with the International Space Station and the Chinese space station (the red line is the debris cloud orbit, the blue line is the International Space Station orbit, and the green line is the Chinese space station orbit).
Due to the suddenness of the incident, the International Space Station has entered the "safe shelter" state, as shown in the figure, the yellow maneuver module has been isolated from the blue main module, and the 7 astronauts can now only operate in the blue marked module including the Soyuz MS-19 and Crew-3 crew Dragon spacecraft.
For Russia's "reckless" anti-satellite test, the US National Space Administration issued a condemnation and asked the US government to submit a diplomatic note to Russia.
Leaving aside the political problems posed by Russia's anti-satellite tests, the recent damage caused by this one is indeed quite large! The consequences are more serious, just like the blockbuster "Gravity" in the early years, that is, satellite debris crashed the International Space Station and the "Tiangong" laboratory, most of the astronauts died, and only one female scientist returned to the ground in the "Shenzhou" at the last moment
So why is satellite debris so harmful? It is because it shifts too fast in a vacuum environment, we all know satellites or space stations, orbiting telescopes... For example, the "Tianhe" space station is flying around the earth's elliptical orbit at 7.68 km/s, and the "Chang'e 5" return capsule that returned to the earth after collecting samples from the moon last November is approaching the earth at a second cosmic speed of 11.2 km/ s, during which it has braked several times to reduce the speed, otherwise it will be burned back into the atmosphere. The debris speed caused by the Russian test is also about 7 km / s.
Whether it is 7 km/s, the first cosmic speed or the second cosmic speed is extremely fast, if at this speed satellite debris collides with the spacecraft, the consequences are much more serious than the birds in the atmosphere hitting the aircraft! Fragments the size of fingernails can destroy satellites, and the size of the teacup lid fragments are highly likely to destroy the space station, so the astronauts on the International Space Station have entered the "Alliance MS-19", and once the debris collides with the space station, it will immediately leave the main body of the International Space Station and return to Earth.
Satellite debris is uncontrollable and numerous, and they are a really threatening space float at low-orbit spacecraft heights! Russia's test is indeed too reckless, if there are consequences that no one wants to see, can Russia bear it? Denial or simply indifference is likely to lead to a very serious diplomatic conflict!
The A235 interceptor used in this test is based on the A135 "rubber shoe cover" nuclear warhead anti-missile missile in the early 1980s, the missile interception test (interception of intercontinental missiles, satellites) is currently engaged in by the three major countries, the most advanced technology is the use of KVV kinetic energy interceptor, it is different from the early years of nuclear warhead type and high-explosive interceptor warhead, is the same inverse orbit to hit the incoming intercontinental missile or satellite, the advantage is that the impact debris is less, Nor will it be like a nuclear interception warhead to "scoop up" its own spacecraft
The KVV kinetic energy interceptor is shown in the GIF, which has a high-performance heat-seeking device and a flight attitude adjustment rocket, and after the interceptor is pushed out of the atmosphere by the rocket, the flight attitude is continuously adjusted under ground control until it is in the same trajectory as the incoming intercontinental missile, and it crashes into each other in a high-speed impact manner.
Russia is currently limited by technology, there is no kinetic energy interceptor, had to continue to use nuclear interceptor warheads and high-explosive warheads, the former is easy to understand is nuclear weapons, the latter and the general anti-aircraft missile warhead is similar, after the explosion of the warhead in the prefabricated shrapnel in the fan shape high-speed destruction of the target, this test is such a high-explosive warhead, so there are many fragments.
However, judging from the current international situation, Russia's strategic oppression is very serious; recently, not only have the US strategic bombers and warships stepped up their activities in the Black Sea, ukraine seems to be provocative, forcing Russia to once again increase its troops to the "Uzbekistan" front line.