Former ISRO scientist calls 'Mission Shakti' a 'complete waste'

New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi proudly announced the success of India's first A-SAT missile test that took India to the elite group of space powers. Only China, United States and Russia were able to do so. But a former ISRO scientist claims that the mission is a 'complete waste'.

In a specially televised announcement on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India has become the fourth country after the US, the USSR and China to have used such a weapon, and have successfully destroyed a low earth orbit satellite in space using a missile which covered a distance of 300 km to engage the target. It was called 'Mission Shakti'.

While BJP leaders have been lauding it as an event that increases security of the nation, a former ISRO scientist said that this won't be effective at all. "Most of the countries' satellites are in the higher orbit, and even with this India won't be able to knock out those satellites," he said.

N Kalyan Raman has worked in ISRO for over two decades. He feels that such a test is of no use. According to Raman, this kind of 'deterrence' doesn't quite add up because as he puts it, "Not only will you be spending a lot, the other guy can always hit you."

"In a war like situation, if a country wants to spy on its enemies there are various ways to do it-- for example, Google Earth. All you need is good resolution photos. Why do we even need this?" he asked.

Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at MIT, claimed that China is capable of knocking out all Indian satellites but India cannot do the same to China. "So it’s kind of a weird balance for India if it’s interested in getting into the anti-satellite deterrence game," he said.