Today we will know about mission shakti , Inida's ASAT test ASAT means Anti-Satellite. The satellite was microsat-r nothing obvious from the name ISRO has classified it as a imaging satellite on its website the satellite was in a Solar Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO) meaning moving between the poles the other kind of orbit is usually called equatorial orbit SSPO is special because in this sunlight is continuously available hence spy satellites prefer this orbit owner of the satellite was DRDO.

Credit Google Images

it was kept a secret and a good level of confidentiality was maintained there was no obvious way to figure out its purpose it was 780kgs(approx) judging by the photos it has a very boxy design this satellite was specifically launched to be a target for this mission launched on 24th January on a PSLV the mission was in process since 2 years. Let's learn about our missile now the missile technically has 3 stages 1st , 2nd and the kill vehicle stage (KV) the 1st and 2nd stages are housed in the orange part these perform the duty of taking the KV to space many are suspecting its the K4 missile the K4 missile is a very top secret Indian missile program nobody really knows more about it , almost no public information the top stage is technically very interesting Its the kill vehicle (KV) stage Its the one that destroys the satellite the pointed section (fairing) will separate this will then reveal the IIR seeker in simple words consider it a camera that can search and lock on targets.

Credit Google Images

The dots down are thruster these are like RCS systems on rockets used for maneuvering the KV to move the vehicle up/down/side/front/back bigger thrusters on top of the small at the center of KV these work very fast , let me show you a video so as you could see , very fast this is important since during impact relative velocities are as high as 10 km/second so they have to be very fast and precise at the same time lets know what exactly happened radar detected the satellite this info was sent to the control center this is very imp, exact times and exact location has to be known then the launch time for the missile is selected missile launches according to the instructions 1st, 2nd stages separate, kill vehicle is independent KV is doing maneuvers on its own KV will align itself and hit the target type of collisions on the screen some say the mission shakti collision happened head on some say on ascent i feel it was on ascent DRDO has actually released a cool video on this . I'm Shocked DRDO even released this , rarely happens have a look yourself very cool video.

Credit The Economic Times

Thanks to DRDO for releasing it you need to be very precise for this I tried it in KSP, I couldnt do it are Indian satellites safe, many say that our sats, especially spy sats they come with quick maneuvering thruster's meaning they can change their orbit quickly so if the satellite is smart enough to detect the threat or get informed on it it should be able to change its orbit don't have reliable info on this.