Freeman Report February 2007 - Vol. 5, No. 2

On January 11, 2007, a Chinese solid-rocket booster with a kinetic kill vehicle (KKV) intercepted and destroyed a defunct Chinese Fengyun FY-1C weather satellite approximately 500 miles above the earth’s surface. This test of a direct-ascent anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) marked the first physical attack on a satellite since the mid-1980s. The destruction of the satellite created a substantial debris cloud, much of which will probably remain in orbit for years.