Indian satellite destruction creates debris field of 'space junk'

India's destruction of a satellite with a missile created hundreds of pieces of "space junk," a potentially dangerous situation that established space powers have tried to avoid for years.

India has sought to minimize the threat to orbiting satellites posed by Wednesday's test of an anti-satellite weapon, which experts said was not technically illegal.

"Unfortunately, there is no binding international legal rule (yet) which prohibits the wanton creation of space debris," said Frans von der Dunk, professor of space law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

At the same time, the test "strictly speaking" was a violation of the obligation under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty to inform other countries of the test "since they might well suffer harmful interference with their own satellite operations," von der Dunk said.

"These kinds of tests increasingly go against the trend and spirit of international law, which is increasingly being seen as moving towards a customary international legal ...