China's anti-satellite weapon has increased space threat:ISRO

New Delhi, Apr 18 (UNI) China testing an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon in January has raised the risk level in space, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair said today.

Space already had over 8,000 objects which could harm satellites and pose other security threats and the Chinese test had added 600 to 800 more pieces in space, Mr Nair told reporters.

Precisely for this reason, the Chinese experiment was not well received by many countries, he said.

The international space community wanted to make use of space missions mainly for peaceful purposes and this had been reinforced at various United Nations' fora, Dr Nair said.

He was replying to questions on increased security risks arising from objects in space. The space scientist was interacting with the media at a function where he announced the holding of the 58th International Astronautical Congress 2007 in Hyderabad in September this year.

However, it was welcomeD that China had clarified that it would not conduct such experiments in future, he said.

UNI