[Freeport]

Wow.. Not a good day in space. So where was the orbital tracking warning? The article doesn't say if it was known that the two would pass very close to each other.

And the repercussions; since the Iridium was in a circular orbit, does any one know if the cosmos orbit was elliptical?

Anyway, as that debris comes down, I see a shooting gallery at a multitude of LEO objects including Hubble, the ISS and a plethora of other satellites. This could get very messy yet.

[The_Victor]

Accident?

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

One relatively puny satellite slamming into another relatively puny satellite while zipping around the earth in orbit is akin to a high-powered bullet accidentially slamming into another high-powered bullet.

So what are the odds of that happening accidentally?

[relictele]

Any chance it was a comms bird that carried feeds for the MSM?

[bmwcyle]

[bert]

Iridium is one, what was the second?

[crz]

Anyone ever see what happens when a bit of space debris the size of a grain of sand does to the space shuttles window?

There is an example in Huntsville AL.

[Liberty Valance]

[DouglasKC]

"This is the first time we've ever had two intact spacecraft accidentally run into each other," said Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist of NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "It was a bad day for both of them."

"Accidentally". Riiiiggggtt..

[ETL]

From Heavens-Above.com...

Cosmos 2251- Information:

Identification
USSPACECOM Catalog No.: 22675
International Designation Code: 1993-036-A

Satellite Details
Orbit: 767 x 803 km, 74.0°
Intrinsic brightness (Mag): 6.3 (at 1000km distance, 50% illuminated)
Maximum brightness (Mag): 5.1 (at perigee, 100% illuminated)

Launch
Date (UTC): June 16, 1993

Cosmos 2251 orbit:
http://heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=22675&lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=CET

Heavens-Above.com | Cosmos 2251:
http://heavens-above.com/satinfo.aspx?lat=0&lng=0&alt=0&loc=Unspecified&TZ=CET&SatID=22675

Iridium satellites and “Iridium Flares”:
http://heavens-above.com/iridiumhelp.asp?lat=0&lng=0&alt=0&loc=Unspecified&TZ=CET

Heavens-Above.com Home:
http://heavens-above.com/

[Jonah Hex]

The real concern is a cascading series (i.e. chain reaction) of collisions in low earth orbit which would not only disable valuable orbital assets, but would also create a band of space debris. This would create a risk to future manned and geostationary satellites transiting LEO. A NASA consultant, Don Kessler, wrote about this scenario AKA the "Kessler Syndrome".

[TheBattman]

I can’t possibly be the first:

OBAMA’S FAULT!

[arthurus]

Was this collision an accident or is Russian practicing or demonstrating anti-satellite capability?

[ETL]

[KarlInOhio]

Russia's Cosmos 2251 satellite slammed into the Iridium craft at 11:55 a.m. EST (0455 GMT) over Siberia at an altitude of 490 miles (790 km).

Had the Russian satellite made any orbital changes for a while? Ignoring the chance that the Russians did this on purpose, the Iridium still did have some maneuvering capability and was responsible for not running into a known non-maneuvering satellite. The statement I quoted would be like me explaining to a cop how a parked car slammed into my car while I was driving.

[LibLieSlayer]

IMHO, this is no accident... my question is... was it our weapon system that was tested, or theirs?

LLS

[Perchant]

If I remember correctly, Iridium has very close ties to the bin Laden family.

[jetson]

Andromeda Strain?