Russia blows up old satellite, NASA boss 'outraged' as ISS crew shelters...

[Rick]

Russia blows up old satellite, NASA boss 'outraged' as ISS crew shelters from debris

In a test of its missile technology, Russia destroyed an old space satellite on Monday, littering Earth's orbit with fragments and forcing astronauts on the International Space Station to temporarily take shelter.

The cloud of debris was generated when Cosmos 1408, a 2,200-kg defunct signals intelligence satellite launched in 1982, was blown up by a Russian anti-satellite missile. The US Department of State condemned the experiment for endangering "human spaceflight activities."

"Earlier today, the Russian Federation recklessly conducted a destructive satellite test of a direct-ascent anti-satellite missile against one of its own satellites," the department's spokesperson Ned Price said at a press briefing on Monday. "The test has so far generated over 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris and hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris that now threaten the interests of all nations.

More: https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/16/russia_satellite_iss/
and: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/nov/16/a-wild-west-out-there-russian-satellite-debris-worsens-space-junk-problem

[Mac]

Didn't the Chinese do something similar in 2007.

Mac.

[Rick]

Yep. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Chinese_anti-satellite_missile_test

See also http://forum.orpington-astronomy.org.uk/index.php?topic=3018

[Rick]

Russia's orbital insanity is almost beyond redemption – but there's space for improvement

Last week, though, the anger was burning hot and entirely genuine. When Russia blew one of its own spy sats out of orbit in an anti-satellite missile trial, it created a huge, growing, and very long-lived cloud of debris that put the ISS and its human cargo in immediate mortal danger. Heightened risk to the space station and to thousands of other satellites will continue for decades. "Outrage... irresponsible and destabilizing... reckless and dangerous..." would normally be astonishingly harsh words for NASA Administrator Bill Nelson to use about a closely cooperating partner; this time, they seem too mild and mannered.

More: https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/22/russias_orbital_insanity/

[Rick]

International Space Station forced to swerve to avoid US space junk

Orbit dropped by 310 metres briefly to avoid collision with fragment from vessel launched in 1994.

More: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/dec/03/international-space-station-forced-to-swerve-to-avoid-us-space-junk

The main difference here being that the junk was a single item large enough to be tracked.