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Space Accident: Russian and US Satellites Collide
BBC: Russian and US satellites collide
US and Russian communications satellites have collided in space in what is thought to be the biggest incident of its kind to date. The US commercial Iridium spacecraft hit a defunct Russian satellite at an altitude of about 800km (500 miles) over Siberia on Tuesday, Nasa said.
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4 Responses to “Space Accident: Russian and US Satellites Collide”
An omen?
Two places to watch: the tiny USSR outpost Kaliningrad (sp?) near Poland and Alaska. Just saying…
Iridium and Russian Cosmos Satellites bump heads.
We had an Iridium,
but now we got rid of 'em
Thanks to the Pentagon nappers
They might have been sleeping
when they should have been peeping
at debris fields and satellite crap, or
They might have looking at force (est) fields,
and could not see debris.
– Greg Molenaar, New London, MN
12 Feb 2009
PS — Who hit whom?
– “If it was a deliberate kill, one of the orbits must have changed…” — Sat orbits are extremely predictable, yet the orbit change COULD have been made years earlier. Someone had to be asleep at the observational switch. That spells missing a data entry for one or the other's orbits, or a bit of software that does not cover all situations. NASA's Johnson debris field expert said “its the small stuff that can hurt you.” — So do you mean we should ignore a one-ton Russian spacecraft?
Interesting if it was a direct hit, or if the solar panels clapped hands as the two ships past in the dark. In any case, its time to add a thousand more data points.
– GM
gregmn, I got no rythym or spellchek. I need to ask: Does your insight come from knowledge of satellites or from GeoCaching? I am hoping the answer will help me with my diction! Enjoy!
What an effective use of a non functional satalite. Putin you little bugger you.