Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra on Tuesday (2 April) blasted the United States for its hypocrisy after US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) termed the space debris generated after recent Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile test by India as a ‘terrible thing’, Livemint has reported.

India, on 27 March, had shot down its low earth orbit satellite with a ground-to-space missile, making it one of the few countries in the world to have such ASAT capabilities. Only three other nations - US, Russia and China - are capable of doing so.

According to the report, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine on Monday (4 April) said India’s move to shoot down one of its own satellites was a “terrible thing” as it created about 400 pieces of debris. He warned that the risk of the debris colliding with the International Space Station (ISS) had risen by 44 per cent since India’s ASAT weapon test.

Mahindra, reacting to the NASA’s comment, tweeted, “A case of the pot calling the kettle black. From a nation that created most of the debris in space over decades, this is an audacious statement....”

As per the report, India has said that the test was done in lower earth orbit in order to ensure that space debris generated will decay and fall back onto the earth within weeks.