A Celestial Encounter: When India Shot Down Its Own Satellite

It was a celestial encounter unlike any other in India's history, like shooting a bullet with a bullet at a distance of nearly 300 km. 

On this day five years ago, India's defence scientists shot down a live Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)-made satellite and the country celebrated the unique 'hit-to-kill' achievement. 

Reliving that moment, Dr G Satheesh Reddy, former scientific advisor to the defence minister and the person who spearheaded the test, said, "Anti-satellite capability works as a deterrent in protecting India's space assets, and a test was conducted smoothly and secretly five years ago".

On March 27, 2019, scientists from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) lay in patient wait as the Indian-made satellite Microsat-R came into the field of vision. A single missile was fired from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island in the Bay of Bengal and, less than three minutes later, the satellite was blown to pieces. 

Codenamed 'Mission Shakti', this was hailed as a big success since only the US, Russia and China had carried out anti-satellite weapons tests till then. The test was also described as being akin to carrying out a surgical strike in space. 

Sitting Ducks

India had shot down a low-earth orbiting satellite using a kinetic weapon and demonstrated its capability of defending its own space assets and also destroying any satellites that pose a threat to its vast constellation of over 50 satellites in which the country has invested more than Rs 50,000 crore.

The satellites were, till recently, the largest such constellation in the Indo-Pacific region and these need to be protected very actively as they are sitting ducks. 

A Speck In Space

In his address that day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not confirm which satellite was shot down by DRDO. Subsequently, it became clear it was the satellite called Microsat-R which was launched at an altitude of 283 kilometres by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on January 24, 2019. 

'Mission Shakti' demonstrated that India can actively kill any satellite orbiting at an altitude of 300 kilometres, and the country has had the capability to conduct anti-satellite weapons tests for at least fifteen years, said a DRDO scientist. 

Bringing down a satellite at that altitude is not easy since it would be travelling at a velocity of about 28,080 kilometres per hour, or 7.8 kilometres per second, and targeting such a small speck - as the satellite would appear at that distance - is a big challenge.

It was later confirmed that India had used a new missile system named Prithvi Defence Vehicle Mark-II, which can target fast-moving satellites and bring them down. The missile was 13 metres long and weighed nearly 20 tonnes, but achieved pinpoint accuracy. 

Space Debris Row

Many nations, including the US, worried that such a test would cause space debris that poses problems for other satellites. There was much criticism of the earlier Chinese anti-satellite weapons test since it had created hundreds of pieces of space debris. 

India had argued that 270-300 pieces of debris generated by the test was only a tiny proportion of millions of pieces floating in space.

So did India's satellite killer test cause debris that endangered the International Space Station, as was claimed by the then chief of NASA, Jim Bridenstine? Dr G Madhavan Nair, former ISRO chief, had said, "India's test done at an altitude of 300 km may not leave space debris for too long." And he stands vindicated as all debris has since disintegrated and burnt.  

'Evil' Eyes

Wing Commander (Retd) Rakesh Sharma, India's only astronaut to have gone into space, said Mission Shakti gave India "the capability to deal with the 'evil' eyes in space".

Speaking at the 'International Seminar on Aerospace Power in Future Conflicts' in New Delhi today, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Chief of the Air Staff, Indian Air Force, said, "The evolution of aerospace power is not merely a matter of technological prowess but also a testament to the ingenuity and adaptability of human innovation in the face of emerging threats and challenges."

"Space has emerged as a critical domain for the conduct of military operations, wherein seamless communication, navigation and surveillance capabilities would enhance the survivability of modern military forces. As nations increasingly rely on space-based assets for building strategic advantage, militarisation and weaponisation of space has become an inevitable reality," he added. 

'No Arms Race'

The Ministry of External Affairs had asserted in 2019: "India has no intention of entering into an arms race in outer space. We have always maintained that space must be used only for peaceful purposes. We are against the weaponisation of outer space and support international efforts to reinforce the safety and security of space-based assets. India believes that outer space is the common heritage of humankind and it is the responsibility of all space-faring nations to preserve and promote the benefits flowing from advances made in space technology and its applications for all."

Dr Ravi Gupta, a former scientist with DRDO said, "When it comes to the protection of space assets and defence against strategic weapons, deterrence is the best defence. Mission Shakti gave Bharat's deterrence capabilities a quantum jump, and Divyastra (the Agni 5-Multiple Independently targetable Reentry Vehicles test of March 11, 2024) was yet another quantum jump."

Former scientific advisor Reddy said, "Mission Shakti was a huge technological milestone achieved by India. The test was conducted leaving minimal debris behind and, today, no debris exists in space arising out of the mission. On the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the test was done to show the technological capability to the world.'

It's been five years since then, and India has not tested an anti-satellite weapon again.