Breaking News: Two Satellites Collide In Orbit

Iran launched this satellite recently. Just thought I should mention it...

And just to give a better idea of the amount of space junk floating around in orbit, You'll find some pictures of it all here in this thread;
space debris illustrated

Quite fasinating really and surprising that this is the first crash of its kind (that's been reported)

reply to post by pyrytyes


LOL!!!!



Is it a bird!!!

Is it a plane!!

No its a fridge!!! ghahaha

I wonder if this was deliberate or some sort of test?

If you want to beat Americas high-tech military in a total war situation the only way to do it would be to destroy communications and gps satellites.

oops, looks like NASA screwed up... Again.

2nd line

Each satellite thrown up in orbit, be it from USA or China or timbucktoo, the orbits can be plotted out for decades as to where they will be.

Now given the fact the old Russian bird has been up there awhile, as was the other bird, doesnt anyone find it strange that suddenly out of nowhere these two birds, after years of orbiting, suddenly smash into each other?

For crying out loud, the old Vanguard basketball size satellite launched in the late 50's is still up there!! Tons of other old, unused and non-functioning satellites are still up there, and been so for decades.

Now suddenly there is a smash and burn. IMO..this was no accident.



Cheers!!!!

I believe RAF FYLINGDALES track all the space tech as well as gloves, lost tool kits and now more rubbish, There was a recent article about fylingdales in a local paper and it showed you inside the command center, my, was i let down, All there was was a big screen TV and a few men sat at desks on computers.

i had an uncle who worked there in the 70's when it was the golf balls, he was a radar technician so I'm off to ask him if there is more to the station than that crappy office type room.

As if it was not bad enough when china decided to try out destroying a satellite and did the same now even more junk.sad

reply to post by C.H.U.D.


I'll have to wait 3 years to the day before somebody writes:
I saw 2 UFOs crash, and the government had covered it up.
And heres the Fuzzy, Shakey pictures to prove it.

1) What if it was no accident? This is not supposed to happen...

2) What if it was not a "defunct russian satellite"? How about a bogey?

reply to post by theresult




Duck, Here it comes!

No, wait... that's a goose!

Sorry, as you were...

Originally posted by Zeptepi
umm..... closed tracking site....
The lid is being slammed shut on this one.
Anybody seeing anything else about this on the MSM?
Space-Track
Space-Track

Due to existing National Security Restrictions pertaining to access of and use of U.S. Government-provided information and data, all users accessing this web site must be an approved registered user to access data on this site.

That's really old news. I got a space-track account a long time ago so that I could access the TLEs whenever I want. It's not too difficult to get one if I can manage it.

[edit on 12-2-2009 by ngchunter]

I live in Texas. I wonder if my home owners insurance covers damage due to space debris???

Found this on Reuters.com

Space officials in Russia and the United States were on Thursday tracking hundreds of pieces of debris that were spewed into space when a U.S. satellite collided with a defunct Russian military satellite.

The crash, which Russian officials said took place on Tuesday at about 1700 GMT (12:00 p.m. EST) above northern Siberia, is the first publicly known satellite collision and has raised concerns about the safety of the manned International Space Station.

The collision happened in an orbit heavily used by satellites and other spacecraft and the U.S. Strategic Command, the arm of the Pentagon that handles space, said countries might have to maneuver their craft to avoid the debris.

"The collision of these two space apparatuses happened by chance and these two apparatuses have been destroyed," Major-General Alexander Yakushin, first deputy commander of Russia's Space Forces, told Reuters.

"The fragments pose no danger whatsoever to Russian space objects," he said. When asked if the debris posed a danger to other nations' space craft, he said: "As for foreign ones, it is not for me say as it is not in my competency."

...

The priority is guarding the International Space Station, which orbits at 220 miles, substantially below the collision altitude. One Russian and two U.S. astronauts are currently aboard the station.

SPACE STATION

The orbit of the ISS can be changed by controllers from Earth but even a tiny piece of debris can cause significant damage to the space station as it travels at 8 km per second.

"If there is any threat to the ISS then there will be an announcement," one Russian space official said. Another said there was little immediate threat to the station.

The crash has underlined concerns about how crowded the orbit paths around the planet have become in recent decades.

Looks like they are more concerned with if any of the debris could crash into the lower altitude orbit of the ISS.

Originally posted by RFBurns
Each satellite thrown up in orbit, be it from USA or China or timbucktoo, the orbits can be plotted out for decades as to where they will be.

No, not really. The sun's effect on our atmosphere is variable and unpredictable. That is why every satellite must be constantly monitored and its orbital elements updated. They go bad quickly, and before you know it your predictions are completely off. They were probably aware of a risk of collision but they may have underestimated the risk due to slight inaccuracies in the orbital elements.

There is a unit of the US Air Force that catalogs and tracks space junk. JSPOC at Vandenberg AFB in CA. They track anything at least 2" in size.... Now if they could just help me find my keys...I gave up on the TV remote weeks ago.

Both the former Soviet Union as well as the United States have had and still maintain HK Sats. Known as Hunter Killers. These Sats were in wide production during the 80s under the Star Wars defence initiative. Amazing how one of our supposedly private communications sats just happened to be destroyed over Siberia.

Apparently, space junk has increased 40% in five years:

A Scientific American report from 2004 says:

BBC report today:


Protect your family from all this by making some handy AFDBs. Do it now!
zapatopi.net...