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General discussion

When satellites collide...

by shmody Feb 15, 2009 10:57PM PST

When satellites collide...

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0902/11iridium/
excerpt:
*****
In an unprecedented space collision, a commercial Iridium communications satellite and a defunct Russian satellite ran into each other Tuesday above northern Siberia, creating a cloud of wreckage, officials said today.
The international space station does not appear to be threatened by the debris, they said, but it's not yet clear whether it poses a risk to any other military or civilian satellites.
[...]
"As of about 12 hours ago, I think the head count was up (to around) 600 pieces," Carey told CBS News late today. "It's going to take about two days before we get a solid picture of what the debris fields look like. But you, I think, can imply that the majority of that should be probably along the same line as the original orbits."
[...]
Asked which satellite was at fault, Johnson said "they ran into each other. Nothing has the right of way up there. We don't have an air traffic controller in space. There is no universal way of knowing what's coming in your direction."
*****

hmmm...indication that the popular orbital highways in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) are getting a bit crowded?...

--S

Discussion is locked

6 Posts
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Space junk
by Nicholas Buenk Feb 17, 2009 6:54AM PST

Orbiting bullets in space pretty much. A hazard for everything else up there.

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Oh noes! Hubble may be impacted; may have only 1-2 yrs left
by shmody Feb 18, 2009 6:57AM PST

Oh noes! Hubble may be impacted; may have only 1-2 yrs left

http://i.gizmodo.com/5155931/satellite-collision-could-doom-the-hubble-telescope
excerpt:
*****
The collision has sent more than 600 pieces of debris whizzing around the Earth at 17,500 mph. At those speeds, shards can take out a spacecraft (and you don't even want to think about what it could do to astronauts on a spacewalk). NASA has calculated the chance of a catastrophic impact at around 1 in 185?just below their 1 in 200 threshold. A decision on whether or not to progress with the Hubble repair mission in May is expected to come down within the next week or two.
*****

C-R-A-P!!!!! ...Shalin is now very, VERY frustrated because we don't really have anything to replace Hubble - the other space telescopes don't take visual light pics...

Best,
Shalin

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collision may mess up all, *ALL* future launches...
by shmody Feb 22, 2009 7:18AM PST
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hey how do they not collide all the time...?
by robstak Feb 22, 2009 1:14PM PST

i mean im sure these things are carefully calculated when put into orbit, but srsly arent there like 1000s of them up there... and then when a shuttle comes flying through does it have to evade them actively? sry if this is a dumb question, and i guess the earth is big enough that even with 100000's of satellites theres still enough real estate, but just wanted to make sure... lol
-k

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Yep
by Nicholas Buenk Feb 23, 2009 6:36AM PST

An agency tracks the objects. (can't remember if it's NORAD or JPL, probably JPL). Shuttle missions have to be designed to avoid the debre. Relative speeds can be such that these objects can hit with the force of bullets and shells.

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SUPER math nerds! sounds more complicated than...
by robstak Feb 23, 2009 9:26AM PST

than finding the island on LOST! lol.

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