Artificial satellites and rockets exploding in orbit...

[Rick]

Space blast's huge debris field

The explosion of a Russian rocket stage in space may have created over 1,000 pieces of orbiting debris which could threaten other spacecraft.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6398513.stm

See also: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070226.html
And: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070222.html

[mickw]

The planned Friday launch of a new U.S. spy satellite has been delayed by space debris from last week's destruction of its disabled predecessor, the mission's launch provider said Wednesday.
Initially slated for a Feb. 29 liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the National Reconnaissance Office's classified NROL-28 reconnaissance spacecraft will stand down for at least two weeks to avoid the orbiting remains of the destroyed USA-193 satellite, the United Launch Alliance said in a mission update.

More:  http://www.space.com/news/080228-spy-satellite-debris-delay.html

Looks like the missile didn't do such a great job after all   

[Rick]

Yep. It made a mess. Why am I not surprised. I just hope most of the rubbish does come down sooner rather than later. Maybe next time they'll find a couple of braincells and actually think things through.

[mickw]

At least SETI stands a better chance of finding intelligence 

[Rick]

(...from the "Well, they would say that, wouldn't they" department...)

An American admiral says that all significant orbital debris from the recent missiling of a duff spy satellite by US warships has now burnt up.

Reuters reports that Rear Admiral Alan Hicks, head of the ship-mounted element of the US ballistic-missile defence programme, made the remarks at a conference in Washington.

"There's very little left up there of any size," said Hicks. "We're down to where there are very very small particles that will burn off as they come down in the atmosphere."

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/20/satellite_intercept_debris_wrapup/

[MarkS]

This is a very interesting image - it shows all the satellites in orbit plus discarded rocket sections and all other manner of trackable space debris.  The Clarke belt is very obvious.

http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&collection=Spacecraft%20Operations&single=y&start=2&size=b

Hi-res version here:
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/spacecraft-operations/space_debris/Bee-Hive-5_H1.jpg

[Tony G]

Hi Mark,

This is quite interesting as well, if you are looking at Satellites,

http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/jtrack/3d/JTrack3D.html

Tony G

[Tony G]

Forgot to add that once the satellite page has downloaded, left click and hold down and move to see the 3d effect, and click on any of the dots as these represent the satellites and it gives the path.

Tony G

[MarkS]

Iridium collides with defunct Russian satellite.  Clouds of Debris.  Risk to ISS is "low"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7885051.stm

[JohnP]

Well it had to happen sooner or later considering how much stuff is up there now...! The big question is I wonder if they knew they were going to collide?

[MarkS]

Related story about monitoring orbits here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7885750.stm

[Ian]

the next question is, will Iridium be expecting some contribution from the Russians to replace the destroyed satellite?

[Rick]

Suddenly there ar a whole lot more bits flying around.  I wonder which one's next for a crash... 

[Mike]

There are circa. 6000 satellites up there travelling at about 14,000 mph. It is only a matter of time !

[Rick]

I wonder how many fragments those two became. The collision was high enough to ensure that most of them will stay in some sort of orbit for a while...

[Ian]

I was under the impression that they weren't that high. However, I'm sure Iridium's next concern is whether any of the remaining constellation will be hit by debris...

[Rick]

Irridium seems to be fairly high as low orbits go, a bit under 500 miles/800 kilometres. I expect quite a few folk are watching the debris carefully...

[Mike]

[Ian]

well we now have a really geeky replacement for the phrase "as useful as a chocolate teapot",

How about "as useful as the ephemeris of Iridium 33"?

[Rick]

...and APOD's chosen to illustrate things, too: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090218.html

[mickw]

posted: 25 March 2009
12:28 pm ET

Space debris cleanup suggestions by fiction writers have been made repeatedly; all have been ignored by the world's space agencies. Now, we have a real problem.

This past week, ISS astronauts have ducked into a Russian space capsule for protection from space debris:

More:   http://www.space.com/090325-space-debris-cleanup.html

[Rick]

On 10 February this year, a defunct Russian communications satellite crashed into an American commercial spacecraft, generating thousands of pieces of orbiting debris.

At the time, some observers put the odds of such an event occurring at millions, maybe billions, to one.

But experts had been warning for years that useable space was becoming crowded, boosting the possibility of a serious collision.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7916582.stm

[mickw]

he space around Earth is becoming more cluttered by the day with orbital junk that, if left unchecked, will pose an ever-increasing threat to current and future spacecraft, a panel of experts told a Congressional subcommittee on Tuesday.

While space debris levels rose this year after the Feb. 10 collision between U.S. and Russian satellites, more rigorous tracking and cleaner spacecraft could help avoid such orbital smashups in the future, the panelists said.

"The threat posed by orbital debris to the reliable operation of space systems will continue to grow unless the sources of space debris are brought under control," NASA's chief orbital debris scientist Nicholas Johnson told the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee in Washington, D.C.

More:   http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090429/sc_space/spacejunkaroundearthontheriseexpertssay

And it took a team of experts to discover this 

[Rick]

20-year-old Military Weather Satellite Apparently Exploded in Orbit

Air Force Space Command said DMSP-F13's power subsystem experienced "a sudden spike in temperature" followed by "an unrecoverable loss of attitude control." As DMSP operators were deciding to "render the vehicle safe" the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, identified a debris field near the satellite.

The Air Force said it is continuing to track the debris and will issue conjunction warnings if necessary.

More: http://spacenews.com/20-year-old-military-weather-satellite-apparently-exploded-in-orbit/