I predict fender bender !
If both are speeding along at close to the same speed, it’ll likely mean a slight change in trajectory, little paint scraping and be gone.
It wont be a head on collison is what I’m saying.
Do satellites have insurance? Would they call Geico if they got hit?
That’s what I said as well. I’m pretty sure that most equatorial revolving satellites orbit in the same direction.
Two reasons:
1. no head on collisions.
2. For achieving orbit, less fuel is used in one direction than the other.
Per the article, they have a relative velocity of about 32,880 miles per hour. That implies they are in very different orbits. In fact, IRAS in a near polar orbit and GGSE-4 in a highly inclined orbit, their individual velocities of about 16,000 miles per hour can in fact sum up to the cited relative velocity if one is heading northward and the other southward. So if IRAS even catches a tiny bit of a GGSE-4 boom there can be significant debris flying around.
They’re going in opposite directions. Per the article, the relative velocity of the two is 32,000mph. Most objects in orbit travel at about their max launch speed which is closer to 15,000mph. To get that relative velocity, they have to be heading almost straight for each other.