Satellites Crash in Space, Debris Scatters
In the first-ever space crash, two communications satellites have collided just shy of 500 miles over Sibera.
AP reports that the crash occurred 491 miles above the Earth at 11:55 a.m. yesterday and that both crafts, an Iridium Satellite LLC communications satellite and a defunct Russian Cosmos 2251, are in a better place now. Russia’s space agency assured the public that the debris cloud poses a “minimal threat” to the International Space Station. Reportedly, the Iridium craft weighed 1,235 pounds, and the Russian craft nearly a ton.
Experts, however, aren't completely surprised that this happened. "We knew this was going to happen eventually," said Mark Matney, an orbital debris scientist at Johnson Space Center in Houston, in the AP story. "The collisions are going to be becoming more and more important in the coming decades."
NASA officials also confirmed that the ISS was not thought in danger (orbiting at an altitude of 220 miles) and that, as has happened in the past, the space station can manoeuvre to avoid being struck by space trash.
According to reports, the Russian satellite was launched in 1993 and was no longer in service. The other craft had the slightly more recent launch date of 1997 and was an active part of the Iridium network, which was originally intended to be the world's first global mobile phone system.
The crash has changed the landscape now for those who wish to launch satellites. With the new debris floating above the atmosphere, adding to the previously existing 18,000 cataloged pieces, those with assets in space now have to be more mindful than ever.
"My worry is that that debris field is going to be up there for a while," said General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former head of the military's space operations, in a Reuters wire. "So we're going to have to play a little bit of dodgeball for many tens of years to come."
"The good news is once it stabilizes, it's relatively predictable," Cartwright added. "The bad news is it's a large area."
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that would be scary if you were in the space station and you knew some debris could hit it!
simple the people involved should clean up there mess and if they carnt then they should pay for there carnidge
^much easier said then done. How would you propose they clean it up?
They need a spacebroom.
Seems that any debris that is propelled upwards or accelerated would go into a higher orbit, anything propelled downwards or slowed down would eventually end up in the atmosphere.
They say a collision was inevitable, but consider the 3-dimensional aspect of space and how much of an incredibly large volume it is. I think it is an incredible coincidence of 2 major satellites colliding. Even the odds of a satellite being hit by big pieces of debris seems to be fairly unlikely. OTOH a large piece of metal travelling roughly 5 times the speed of an artillery shell could do some significant damage.
A vacuum cleaner wouldn't work in space, but I think it's time for a large space magnet. send up a large "satellite" that consists of navigation jets and a large (and massive) permanent magnet. Then, deliberately send it in orbits where either the magnet or it's gravitational attraction will cause it to collect the space junk.
OTOH a large piece of metal travelling roughly 5 times the speed of an artillery shell could do some significant damage.
I was about to say sth similar. They have said that this kind of debris is very dangerous, and they have not yet found a way to remove it. A simple screw could blow up or seriously jeopardize a space mission.
Fire a magnet through the debris and send it wizzing into the sun. Lol. Seriously though, polluting space is not a good idea.
"I think it's time for a large space magnet." There is very little ferrous metal in a satellite. Of course the most cost effective way to clean this up is to brig the older stuff down before collisions occur. But it is dangerous and expensive, and we pusillanimous humans have the stomach for neither.
I always suggest shooting a missile.
A missile would make a bigger mess. They really do need something to clean it up. I guess that's where all of our tax dollars are going...into space!
Space Junk, the final frontier.
Powerful enough, there should be only pieces left smaller then 2 crashing into each other.
They need a spacebroom. Seems that any debris that is propelled upwards or accelerated would go into a higher orbit, anything propelled downwards or slowed down would eventually end up in the atmosphere.They say a collision was inevitable, but consider the 3-dimensional aspect of space and how much of an incredibly large volume it is. I think it is an incredible coincidence of 2 major satellites colliding. Even the odds of a satellite being hit by big pieces of debris seems to be fairly unlikely. OTOH a large piece of metal travelling roughly 5 times the speed of an artillery shell could do some significant damage.
actuallyall teh debris will eventually fall adn get burned up in the atmosphere , the question here is how long will it take before all the majory peices do this
A missile would make a bigger mess. They really do need something to clean it up. I guess that's where all of our tax dollars are going...into space!
no i serioiusly doubt that out tax dollars are all going to space , as it is the space program is very very unpopular with the goverment right now , because of the finacial cost as well as the reccent loss of life that occured a couple of years ago. our tax dollars all went to war and the reccent bail out money that bush handed to the oil and car industries, and i for one truthfyully think it would ahve been better spent on space. These corparations screw peopel over every day , and then out goverment hands them more money so they can continue screwing people over ... all the while people complain when the goverment gives a little bit of money to NASA for doing things that just may benifit us all one day. I don't even think Nasa is really seeing ALL the money our goverment claims to give them.
back in the 80's every one talked about how 2005 would be the year that nasa builds a ship for going to mars , and that it would launch by 2010 , but thanks to war and greddy burecrats it now looks as though the dream of a mar landing will never happen at least not in any of our life times.
you hoenstly ask me what is a better way to spend tax money hmm lets see
1. war ... lotta death , we get to kill a lotta arabs that had nothing to do with 9/11, then give money to corerates that already screwed thier companies into a hole, so they can keep screwing their companies up
or option 2
2. space , so we can land on mars adn quite peacefully explore it...
hmmm geee wow i think i will take teh first choice cos it the AMERICAN choice ... don't yopu love teh sound of bombs fallign in the morning
@ demonhorde665 : What about a third option? Education and social services would be my guess. That way people like you could learn to spell, and those who've got miserable lives could live a bit less miserably.
lol @ governments trowing money out to the space
It is my understanding that the orbit Kosmos-2251 was in was a graveyard orbit, 800km above surface. Iridium 33 lost controls and wonder off into the graveyard.
This actually felt like a private anti-satellite test. Is Iridium owned by a bold guy with Persian cat?
Someday we will be trapped on this planet with all the whizzing spacejunk around...any attempts to launch a satellite or a shuttle will get zapped l0l.
It could all be a clever plot... russian satellite was still secretly in use as spy satellite, US or other gov't agency took control of the iridium satellite and crashed it with purpose of disabling the russian satellite.
Conspiracy theorists unite! lolz jk
ion engine + large nano-fiber-kevlar basket? Sounds like an arcade game to me.
Just use a conventional method but add the word "space" before it. Send in a space-maid with a space-vaccum and a space-duster. She'll do an awesome space-job. Kinda like Spaceballs's Mega Maid!
This article reminds me of the award winning anime Planetes.
The story is about people cleaning up space debris lol
no i serioiusly doubt that out tax dollars are all going to space , as it is the space program is very very unpopular with the goverment right now , because of the finacial cost as well as the reccent loss of life that occured a couple of years ago. our tax dollars all went to war and the reccent bail out money that bush handed to the oil and car industries, and i for one truthfyully think it would ahve been better spent on space. These corparations screw peopel over every day , and then out goverment hands them more money so they can continue screwing people over ... all the while people complain when the goverment gives a little bit of money to NASA for doing things that just may benifit us all one day. I don't even think Nasa is really seeing ALL the money our goverment claims to give them.back in the 80's every one talked about how 2005 would be the year that nasa builds a ship for going to mars , and that it would launch by 2010 , but thanks to war and greddy burecrats it now looks as though the dream of a mar landing will never happen at least not in any of our life times. you hoenstly ask me what is a better way to spend tax money hmm lets see 1. war ... lotta death , we get to kill a lotta arabs that had nothing to do with 9/11, then give money to corerates that already screwed thier companies into a hole, so they can keep screwing their companies up or option 2 2. space , so we can land on mars adn quite peacefully explore it... hmmm geee wow i think i will take teh first choice cos it the AMERICAN choice ... don't yopu love teh sound of bombs fallign in the morning
yeah, theres definately only two options here. Bomb brown people, or explore space. No middle ground there.
I'm waiting for the news story of the "unfortune" collission with the Iranian satallite.
As for disposal. Satellites could be sent up with little thrusters which either fire them into space or into the seaat the end of their life. Problem solved (for new satellites anyway).
@ demonhorde665 : What about a third option? Education and social services would be my guess. That way people like you could learn to spell, and those who've got miserable lives could live a bit less miserably.
Again another a-hole with no life trying to tell some one they can't spell, just because they can't type good when they are sleepy.
I was dead tired when I posted that, so instead of being a smart a-- jerk, why don't you try to read the general content of what I said and post an actual reply in regards to it. Instead of insulting my intelligence because I had typos on a message board that offers NO spell checking.
Get a life loser.
yeah, theres definately only two options here. Bomb brown people, or explore space. No middle ground there.
well i wasn't suggesting those were the only options. obviously there are many other things to spend tax money on. Just pointing out the fact that the US goverment would rather spend money on waring in the middle east. than furthering our efforts in space exploration, But also of considration is the fact that now, we have no choice in the matter because the prievious president spent all we had to spend on war. Hopefully Obama will get us back to where we have more options again. but only time will tell.
yeah, theres definately only two options here. Bomb brown people, or explore space. No middle ground there.
Well I wasn't suggesting those were the only options. obviously there are many other things to spend tax money on. Just pointing out the fact that the US goverment would rather spend money on waring in the middle east. than furthering our efforts in space exploration, But also of considration is the fact that now, we have no choice in the matter because the prievious president spent all we had to spend on war. Hopefully Obama will get us back to where we have more options again. but only time will tell.
lol hope they have insurance
Well I wasn't suggesting those were the only options. obviously there are many other things to spend tax money on. Just pointing out the fact that the US goverment would rather spend money on waring in the middle east. than furthering our efforts in space exploration, But also of considration is the fact that now, we have no choice in the matter because the prievious president spent all we had to spend on war. Hopefully Obama will get us back to where we have more options again. but only time will tell.
Don't forget the US government just decided to hand out 800 billion of money it does not have to big businesses and special interest groups that have recently made bad business decisions.
I wonder if a robotic recycling satellite would be commercially feasible. Use it to gather low earth orbit debris, compact it and safely return the debris to earth for further processing. Rare hydrogen isotopes anyone?
So when does the world decide to blame the U.S. for all the space trash and then expect us to put a craft in orbit to go around cleaning it all up?