India's destruction of satellite creates a mess of space debris

India’s destruction of a satellite with a missile created hundreds of pieces of “space junk,” a potentially dangerous situation that established space powers have tried to avoid for years.

“Unfortunately, there is no binding international legal rule (yet) which prohibits the wanton creation of space debris,” said Frans von der Dunk, professor of space law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

At the same time, the test “strictly speaking” was a violation of the obligation under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty to inform other countries of the test “since they might well suffer harmful interference with their own satellite operations,” von der Dunk said.

“These kinds of tests increasingly go against the trend and spirit of international law, which is increasingly being seen as moving towards a customary international legal obligation to refrain from such junk-creating activities,” he told AFP.

Since 2002, the world’s space powers have complied with an informal code of conduct to avoid the creation of space junk and the United Nations has endorsed a resolution along those lines.

The United States took aim at India’s anti-satellite weapons test with acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan saying “We all live in space. Let’s not make it a mess.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a rare address to the nation, said the satellite was struck at an altitude of around 300 kilometres (185 miles), which is lower than the 410 kilometres (254 miles) used by the International Space Station and most satellites.

The danger from “space junk” is not that it falls to Earth but that it collides with orbiting satellites.

Even the smallest piece of debris travelling at great speeds can put a satellite out of action.

Most of the debris from the Indian test is expected to remain in orbit for several weeks before gravity exerts its pull and it is consumed by Earth’s atmosphere.