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calendar   Thursday - February 12, 2009

Oops?

Innocent accident, overt action, test of a new weapons system? Seems innocent, but don’t ignore the strategic value here.



U.S., Russian satellites collide in space



Two satellites, one Russian and one American, have collided some 800 kilometers (500 miles) above Siberia, the Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos, said Thursday.

The collision produced two large debris clouds, which are not believed to pose a threat to the International Space Station as long as the clouds continue moving in a lower orbit, Roscosmos said.

There is a chance the debris could hit other satellites at the same altitude, however, the space agency said.

“We have not received a warning of the possible danger to the ISS. The fragments may descend to the ISS orbit in several years, although I do not rule out that some fragments may go down within several days,” Mikhail Martirosov, from the Russian mission control center, told the Russian news agency Interfax Thursday.

An earlier version of this story said they were both communication satellites. Now, the funny thing is, a satellite’s orbit is mapped out in advance. Ages before it’s even launched. And there is an international protocol in place that keeps them from “tailgating” each other. So accidents don’t just happen. Somebody screwed up, or somebody is playing reindeer games in space. Question is, who?

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Two big communications satellites collided in the first-ever crash of two intact spacecraft in orbit, shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds and posing a slight risk to the international space station. NASA said it will take weeks to determine the full magnitude of the crash, which occurred nearly 500 miles over Siberia on Tuesday.

“We knew this was going to happen eventually,” said Mark Matney, an orbital debris scientist at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA believes any risk to the space station and its three astronauts is low. It orbits about 270 miles below the collision course. There also should be no danger to the space shuttle set to launch with seven astronauts on Feb. 22, officials said, but that will be re-evaluated in the coming days.

The collision involved an Iridium commercial satellite, which was launched in 1997, and a Russian satellite launched in 1993 and believed to be nonfunctioning. The Russian satellite was out of control, Matney said. The Iridium craft weighed 1,235 pounds, and the Russian craft nearly a ton.

Hmmm. Guess the Iridium folks weren’t watching their radars carefully enough. Maybe.

Iridium satellites are unusual because their orbit is so low and they move so fast. Most communications satellites are in much higher orbits and don’t move relative to each other, which means collisions are rare.

Smart people, don’t think too hard on that last one. I’m pretty sure the more distant satellites need to move even faster than the closer ones.


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Posted by Drew458   United States  on 02/12/2009 at 04:14 PM   
Filed Under: • Science-TechnologySpace •  
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