The majority of the debris have mean [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] altitudes of 528 miles or greater, which means most will be very long-lived . . . Any of this debris has the potential for seriously disrupting or terminating the mission of operational spacecraft in low Earth orbit. This satellite breakup represents the most prolific and serious fragmentation in the course of 50 years of space operations."At the time, many pundits and politicians would ask: What quite literally "on earth" would possess a developing nation desperately [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] seeking international approval to pull such a dangerous stunt and risk such geopolitical fallout?
Given the Chinese government's lack of transparency, there really is no satisfactory answer to that question. Perhaps even more chilling, immediately after the event, Chinese diplomats and political leaders seemed as surprised as the rest of the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] world by this test! In fact, China's civilian leaders were unable to describe the test or offer a coordinated explanation for several days.
One alarming possibility is that the People's Liberation Army and its own rogue cadre of space hawks may have conducted this test without full disclosure to the politicians as a demonstration of their strength. Regardless of whether China's anti-satellite weapons test was a renegade act by the military or a cold calculation by the political leadership, the North American Aerospace Defense Command continues to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] track more than 2,000 of the larger pieces of the late Fengyun-1C at altitudes ranging from 125 to 2,500 miles.
More Chinese language tags：[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] | [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Given the Chinese government's lack of transparency, there really is no satisfactory answer to that question. Perhaps even more chilling, immediately after the event, Chinese diplomats and political leaders seemed as surprised as the rest of the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] world by this test! In fact, China's civilian leaders were unable to describe the test or offer a coordinated explanation for several days.
One alarming possibility is that the People's Liberation Army and its own rogue cadre of space hawks may have conducted this test without full disclosure to the politicians as a demonstration of their strength. Regardless of whether China's anti-satellite weapons test was a renegade act by the military or a cold calculation by the political leadership, the North American Aerospace Defense Command continues to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] track more than 2,000 of the larger pieces of the late Fengyun-1C at altitudes ranging from 125 to 2,500 miles.
More Chinese language tags：[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] | [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]