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It happened... one of the things I've been fearing... Anti-Satellite Missile Posted by Scott Paterson [Email] ![]() ![]() ![]() |
About a year ago I had a chat with a friend who is in the satellite business and space debris was my main question. I've been worried that something like this was going to happen and yesterday, it did.
The excerpt below is from a daily e-newsletter I get that I find very good. It's called Morning Brew and you can subscribe here:
https://morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=5b889857
-Scott
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The most dangerous thing in space right now isn’t aliens or cowboy Bezos—it’s more than 1,500 pieces of trash from a Russian satellite that was obliterated yesterday, which forced seven crew members on the International Space Station (ISS) to take shelter in space’s version of a lifeboat.
What happened: In an antisatellite (ASAT) missile test Monday morning, Russia blew up its own satellite, creating a cloud of space debris that careens by the ISS every 90 minutes. The US State Department called Russia’s actions “dangerous, reckless, and irresponsible,” and NASA said the explosion will “significantly increase the risk to astronauts and cosmonauts” aboard the space station.
Some background: Antisatellite missile tests have been around since the dawn of the space race (the US launched the first one in 1959), but Russia, the US, China, and India have never used them against each other's satellites. Still, these tests are usually considered “political moves” for countries to show that they could mess up your satellite if they wanted to.
In space, blowing things up doesn’t make them go awayThere are currently millions of pieces of space debris—many from past missile tests—orbiting Earth at about 22,000 mph, and they pose significant risks for satellites that are critical for American military operations and a number of everyday commercial activities here on Earth, like banking and GPS.
According to NASA, a 1-centimeter paint fleck in space can do the damage of a 550-pound object traveling 60 mph on Earth.
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