Posted on 02/03/2007 4:46:22 AM PST by MARKUSPRIME
MOSCOW, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. and Russian officials changed the International Space Station's orbit to keep it clear of debris from a satellite destroyed by China, a report says.
"We are diverting the orbit of the ISS to prevent a possible collision with large fragments of space debris, a decision the Russian Mission Control took together with the Johnson Space Center in Houston," a Russian Mission Control spokesman told Novosti Friday.
The spokesman said the debris did not threaten the space station, and that an anti-meteorite system protected it from smaller fragments.
China set off an international protest when it announced in January it had used a ground-based missile to hit one its aging weather satellites, Novosti reported.
The United States filed a diplomatic protest, Novosti said, because the weather satellite used approximately the same orbit as its spy satellites. Canada, Australia and Japan also objected.
Russian and U.S. space agencies were both tracking fragments from the weather satellite. U.S. officials said they were following 525 large fragments and had recorded between 500 and 600 instances of debris passing within three miles of orbiting satellites.
Ping.
And send China the bill.
We need to send China a bill for the costs involved. STupid idiots. Must be a genetic link between the leadership in China and Kim-dum-Idiot of North Korea...
Except it DID NOT happen.
According to Jim Oberg, the UPI article is based upon a poor translation of a Russian news piece. The Russian Novi piece stated something on the order of if debris from that test endangered the ISS, it would be moved with the move controlled from the Space Operations Center in Moscow. UPI mistranslated the "would be" as "was" -- which is an easy error to make, but is nevertheless, sloppy as all get out.
I doubt any major player is going to isolate China as a result of this. I wish it would happen, but Putin wants to keep China with him as much as possible.
Law of unintended consequences???
Moscow obviously doesn't care about the test... (Russia has the most anti-sattellite weapons of any power)
I hope this reckless and aggressive action by China puts an end to any further contact between NASA and the Chinese. China should be shunned like the international space faring pariah that they are in the world.
For reference, the satellite that China exploded into hundreds of dangerous pieces was orbiting Earth at an altitude of 542 miles. There are currently more than 280 satellites orbiting Earth below an altitude of 542 miles, including the Hubble Space Telescope at an altitude of 352 miles.
Why does UPI print a story without verifying it?
Global warming, huh? Then it's Bush's fault.
The Space Station would have been completely safe if only he had signed Kyoto. </sarcasm>
So, as atmospheric resistance slows down this space junk, everything below 542 miles altitude will be joined some time by this debris. If all of it is rotating in the same direction and speed, not much to worry about. However, if a meteorite came in and deflected some of the debris, you would have a nuisance. Also, we have no way to know where all of that destroyed satellite went. The Hubble Space Telescope has some suspicious problems. And, we will have little information about the more top secret satellites which are also in low orbit.
"ImediNews, Georgia - 3 hours ago MOSCOW (UPI) — US and Russian officials changed the International Space Station's orbit to keep it clear of debris from a satellite destroyed by China, ..." at
http://www.imedinews.ge/en/news_read/18518
But it's a different story when you get there.
China launched a nav satellite today and will be launching ten various satellites this year including a lunar orbiter.
" Why does UPI print a story without verifying it?"
1. They are UPI. And your problem with that is?
2. The UPI Moscow bureau is basically some dude who translates Novi articles, and slaps UPI's name on it. (It is legit -- Novi gets paid.) The language in the original was a little ambiguous. If you were up on Russian you knew what they meant . . . but if you did not know Russian inside out, it was easy to misinterpret.
Note that the original Russian-language version WAS correct and HAD been verified. The problem was a mistranslation of the original text.
All our sats have 'some' manuvering fuel, but if enough of this debris is in the same or similar orbit, and scattering....that fuel will be used up rather rapidly if the US has to continually manuver to avoid the debris. Soon, that fuel will be used up..and make them easier targets.
You have to admire the operational concept. This is a long term project.
Solution: Continued SDI R&D.
For the 280+ satellites orbiting below an altitude of 542 miles, the orbit inclinations from the equator vary from 2 to 143 degrees, although the majority (~212) are in the range of 86 to 99 degrees inclination. The Feng Yun 1C satellite destroyed by China was in a polar orbit at 98.8 degrees inclination. The data includes Mil/Gov/Comm/Civil satellites.
Orbital mechanics make it improbable that any particular satellite will be hit by the debris, but there is still no excuse for this dangerous test conducted by China.
Appreciated.
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