Antisatellite fallout

Experts concerned by the capability (and the unknown intentions) behind a Chinese anti-satellite (ASAT) test also have a more immediate worry. The violent destruction of an old weather satellite in sun-synchronous low orbit has left hundreds of pieces of debris, all of them capable on damaging other spacecraft. Even the International Space Staion (ISS), in a lower-inclination orbit, is potentially vulnerable as the space junk crosses its orbital plane and gradually drifts down toward the ISS altitude.