The nation celebrates the commendable achievement of our scientists and engineers in scoring an accurate hit of a target satellite in orbit with an indigenous missile to provide an effective deterrence against any threat to our space assets.

   The challenge ahead is to reiterate our policy of peaceful use of outer space through credible reassurances to the world community of satellite vendors and their policy advisors on the use of orbits.

    ‘ We now have the capability to intercept any satellite at any orbit’, declared Mr. V. K. Saraswat, architect of Anti-satellite missile (ASAT), which launched India as the fourth member into the exclusive club of space powers, after U.S.A., Russia and China, which can hit or jam a satellite in orbit.

   Developed by the country’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), ASAT is a fully indigenous missile, which tested its capability on....