Impact of China’s Anti-Sat Weapon’s Test Debris?

"It would not surprise me if it caused the destruction of at least one working satellite and maybe a couple. I would be surprised if it was bad enough to cause the destruction of many satellites."

- Jonathan McDowell, Ph.D., Harvard Astrophysicist

Illustration of aging FengYun-1 weather satellite destroyed January 11, 2007, in Chinese anti-satellite weapon test, courtesy Earth Observation Resources.

January 19, 2007 Cambridge, Massachusetts - Craig Covault in Aviation Week & Space Technology online reported January 17, 2007, that "U. S. intelligence agencies believe China performed a successful anti-satellite (asat) weapons test at more than 500 miles altitude (new estimate is 530 miles up) on January 11, 2007, destroying an aging Chinese weather satellite target with a kinetic kill vehicle launched on board a ballistic missile.

Click here to subscribe and get instant access to read this report.

Click here to check your existing subscription status.

Existing members, login below: