IASNOVA
Mission Shakti
– A joint programme of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
– India has shot down a low-orbit earth satellite at a height of 300 km from the earth’s surface.
– The entire operation of Mission Shakti took just three minutes.
– Mission Shakti was carried out from DRDO’s testing range in Odisha’s Balasore.
– The interceptor was launched at around 05:40 UTC at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur, Odisha and hit its target Microsat-R after 168 seconds.
India – 4th country to demonstrate this technology.
Other 3 countries- USA ( 1st ) , Russia, China
Low earth orbit ( LEO )
– refers to an altitude up to 2,000 km. A satellite in the LEO can monitor activities on the ground and water surfaces. Such a satellite can be used for espionage and pose serious threat to the country’s security in the instances of war.A Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is an Earth-centred orbit with an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 mi) or or with at least 11.25 periods per day (an orbital period of 128 minutes or less) and an eccentricity less than 0.25.Most of the manmade objects in space are in LEO.
Why Mission Shakti was so special?
PM Modi listed two reasons:
- India is only the 4th country to acquire such a specialised and modern capability, and
- Entire effort is indigenous.
A-SAT
Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic military purposes. Several nations possess operational ASAT systems. Although no ASAT system has yet been utilised in warfare, a few nations have shot down their own satellites to demonstrate their ASAT capabilities in a show of force. Only the United States, Russia , China, and India have demonstrated this capability successfully.
Outer Space Treaty
The Outer Space Treaty, formally the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is a treaty that forms the basis of international space law. The treaty was opened for signature in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union on 27 January 1967, and entered into force on 10 October 1967.
The Outer Space Treaty does not ban military activities within space or the weaponization of space, with the exception of the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space.
Geosynchronous Orbit
A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an orbit around Earth of a satellite with an orbital period that matches Earth’s rotation on its axis, which takes one sidereal day (about 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds).
The synchronization of rotation and orbital period means that, for an observer on Earth’s surface, an object in geosynchronous orbit returns to exactly the same position in the sky after a period of one sidereal day.
Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit ( GEO )
A geostationary orbit, often referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit 35,786 km (22,236 mi) above Earth’s equator and following the direction of Earth’s rotation.
A geostationary orbit is a particular type of geosynchronous orbit, which has an orbital period equal to Earth’s rotational period, or one sidereal day (23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds).
An object in such an orbit appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers.
Communications satellites and weather satellites are often placed in geostationary orbits, so that the satellite antennae (located on Earth) that communicate with them do not have to rotate to track them, but can be pointed permanently at the position in the sky where the satellites are located.
Using this characteristic, ocean-color monitoring satellites with visible and near-infrared light sensors (e.g. GOCI) can also be operated in geostationary orbit in order to monitor sensitive changes of ocean environments.
Sun-synchronous Orbit
A Sun-synchronous orbit (also called a heliosynchronous orbit) is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet’s surface at the same local mean solar time.More technically, it is an orbit arranged so that it processes through one complete revolution each year, so it always maintains the same relationship with the Sun.
A Sun-synchronous orbit can place a satellite in constant sunlight, which allows the solar panels to work continually.
This orbit is also useful for imaging, spy, and weather satellites, other remote-sensing satellites, such as those carrying ocean and atmospheric remote-sensing instruments that require sunlight, because every time that the satellite is overhead, the surface illumination angle on the planet underneath it will be nearly the same.
