Artificial satellites and rockets exploding in orbit...

[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/