{"id":20620,"date":"2025-04-21T11:31:32","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T06:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=20620"},"modified":"2025-05-28T13:10:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T07:40:04","slug":"anti-satellite-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/anti-satellite-weapon\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Weapons Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>India is recognised as a key player in creating global norms for responsible space behaviour, said Marjolijn van Deelen, EU Special Envoy for Space. She highlighted India-EU collaboration at the Global Technology Summit.<\/p>\n<h2>About Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Weapons<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>ASAT weapons<\/strong>\u00a0are specialised technologies designed to\u00a0<strong>disable, destroy, or interfere with satellites<\/strong>\u00a0in orbit for\u00a0<strong>strategic or defensive purposes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>ASATs are a\u00a0<strong>key component of space warfare capabilities<\/strong>\u00a0and are used to\u00a0<strong>neutralise enemy satellites<\/strong>\u00a0for\u00a0<strong>surveillance, communication, navigation<\/strong>, or\u00a0<strong>early warning systems<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>ASAT weapons are broadly classified into\u00a0<strong>two categories<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Kinetic Energy ASATs<\/strong>: These involve\u00a0<strong>direct physical impact<\/strong>, usually through\u00a0<strong>missiles<\/strong>\u00a0that collide with satellites to destroy them. The impact generates\u00a0<strong>orbital debris<\/strong>, which can pose a long-term hazard to other space assets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Non-Kinetic ASATs<\/strong>: These use\u00a0<strong>non-physical means<\/strong>\u00a0such as\u00a0<strong>cyber-attacks<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>jamming<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>spoofing<\/strong>, and\u00a0<strong>directed energy weapons<\/strong>\u00a0like\u00a0<strong>lasers<\/strong>\u00a0to\u00a0<strong>disrupt or blind<\/strong>\u00a0a satellite without physically destroying it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>ASAT weapons can be\u00a0<strong>launched from ground stations<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>aircraft<\/strong>, or even\u00a0<strong>other satellites<\/strong>, making them versatile and difficult to detect in some cases.<\/li>\n<li>As of now,\u00a0<strong>four countries<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 the\u00a0<strong>United States, Russia, China, and India<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 have demonstrated\u00a0<strong>operational ASAT capabilities<\/strong>\u00a0through tests.<\/li>\n<li><strong>India\u2019s ASAT Test (Mission Shakti)<\/strong>\u00a0was conducted in\u00a0<strong>March 2019<\/strong>, where a\u00a0<strong>live satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO)<\/strong>\u00a0was destroyed by a\u00a0<strong>three-stage interceptor missile<\/strong>\u00a0at an altitude of\u00a0<strong>around 300 km<\/strong>\u00a0in a\u00a0<strong>&#8220;hit-to-kill&#8221; mode<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The global community, particularly the\u00a0<strong>European Union (EU)<\/strong>, has expressed concern about the\u00a0<strong>space debris created by destructive ASAT tests<\/strong>\u00a0and has called for\u00a0<strong>a ban on such practices<\/strong>\u00a0under the\u00a0<strong>United Nations framework<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>About Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>RPO<\/strong>\u00a0refers to the\u00a0<strong>intentional manoeuvring<\/strong>\u00a0of one spacecraft\u00a0<strong>close to another<\/strong>\u00a0in space, either for\u00a0<strong>docking<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>inspection<\/strong>, or\u00a0<strong>other mission objectives<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rendezvous operations<\/strong>\u00a0involve two space objects\u00a0<strong>adjusting their orbital parameters,<\/strong>\u00a0such as\u00a0<strong>trajectory, plane, altitude, and phasing,<\/strong>\u00a0to approach one another for\u00a0<strong>docking<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0<strong>berthing<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Proximity operations<\/strong>\u00a0involve\u00a0<strong>maintaining a spacecraft in the vicinity<\/strong>\u00a0of another object on a\u00a0<strong>pre-planned relative path<\/strong>\u00a0without necessarily making contact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>While RPOs are commonly used for\u00a0<strong>scientific<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>repair<\/strong>, or\u00a0<strong>refuelling missions<\/strong>, they can also be\u00a0<strong>used for espionage, disruption, or disabling other satellites<\/strong>, especially if performed\u00a0<strong>without prior notification<\/strong>\u00a0or by\u00a0<strong>unfriendly actors<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/india-can-be-active-player-in-developing-international-framework-for-responsible-behaviour-in-space-eu-envoy\/article69471391.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ASAT weapons are specialised technologies designed to disable, destroy, or interfere with satellites in orbit for strategic or defensive purposes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":45885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[208,21,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-20620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-anti-satellite-weapons","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","11":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}