On-orbit Satellite Collision |
On-orbit Satellite Collision |
Feb 11 2009, 09:35 PM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
Two satellites collide in orbit
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD Posted: February 11, 2009 In an unprecedented space collision, a commercial Iridium communications satellite and a presumably defunct Russian Cosmos satellite ran into each other Tuesday above northern Siberia, creating a cloud of wreckage, officials said today. Iridium satellite An artist's concept of an Iridium satellite orbiting the Earth. Photo: Iridium 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. "They collided at an altitude of 790 kilometers (491 miles) over northern Siberia Tuesday about noon Washington time," said Nicholas Johnson, NASA's chief scientist for orbital debris at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "The U.S. space surveillance network detected a large number of debris from both objects." MORE..... http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0902/11iridium/ -------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Feb 12 2009, 05:50 PM
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14448 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
At 7.5km/sec - it takes about 0.00013s for a spacecraft to cover the, say, 1 metre width of an Iridium sat.
I wonder if anyone was watching it do an iridium flare at the time Doug |
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Feb 12 2009, 08:48 PM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 593 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 279 |
At 7.5km/sec - it takes about 0.00013s for a spacecraft to cover the, say, 1 metre width of an Iridium sat. I need to delve into the statistical probabilities, but given the apogee/perigee variation for the satellites was ~ 26km for Cosmos 2251 and ~ 15km for Iridium 33, that there was complete overlap, and that the inclinations were similar (74 versus 86.4 degrees) that's still a huge amount of sky to exactly meet one-on-one in that tenth of a microsecond that counted. It's beyond lottery-winning "unlikely". ...But maybe it'll raise a few eyebrows and result in positive decisions for the future. Andy |
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