Chinese are getting very sophisticated in a short amount of time. Seems the 1990s became a technological enlightenment for the red and yellow government. Hmmmmmm, wonder how that happened.
Posted on 02/11/2009 1:39:00 PM PST by Names Ash Housewares
In an unprecedented space collision, a commercial Iridium communications satellite and a presumably defunct Russian Cosmos satellite ran into each other Tuesday above northern Siberia, creating a cloud of wreckage, officials said today.
The international space station does not appear to be threatened by the debris, they said, but it's not yet clear whether it poses a risk to any other military or civilian satellites.
"They collided at an altitude of 790 kilometers (491 miles) over northern Siberia Tuesday about noon Washington time," said Nicholas Johnson, NASA's chief scientist for orbital debris at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "The U.S. space surveillance network detected a large number of debris from both objects."
One source said nearly 300 fragments were being tracked, but Johnson said it was not yet clear how much debris was generated.
"It's going to take a while," he said. "It's very, very difficult to discriminate all those objects when they're really close together. And so, over the next couple of days, we'll have a much better understanding. But it's at a minimum, I think we're talking many, many dozens, if not hundreds."
(Excerpt) Read more at spaceflightnow.com ...
what about those cool equatorial rings lucas liked to put around space explosions?
at least 300 pieces,, dang, that hurts.
This makes you wonder why it does not happen more often...
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/headline_universe/images/orbital_debris_big_jpg_image.html
I think it was an accident. it was only a Civilian satellite for satellite telephones and pagers. not a high priority satellite or a military satellite.
Hmm... how do I get the pic to upload?
Wouldn’t a 20,000+ km per hour collision produce enough gaseous debris to constitute a micro-atmosphere, to transmit sound waves?
My thoughts exactly.
Didn’t DOD buy out the company that put the Iridium up and start using it for military use?
I would like to see that picture in motion, it would look like a huge scrambled mess.
Because if each of those dots really were satellites to a 1:1 scale, then each satellite, considering that they are in orbit, would have to be larger than a couple of cities.
More stuff to avoid when flying around up there. And let’s hope the Iranian one up there accidentally collides with something.
Did either of the satellites’ operators have insurance?
It was originally posted into Chat. We've moved it to Frontpage, it is an interesting story.
Seems like I recall that as well.
Iridium satellites are now an essential component of communications with remote science camps, especially the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. As of December 2006, an array of twelve Iridium modems was put online, providing 24/7 data services to the station for the first time. Total bandwidth is 28.8 kbit/s.[9]
Its various debris... I went to Cheyenne Mountain (NORAD) one time and they are tracking every thing in orbit, from early Apollo tools to paint chips...
WHAT HAPPEN?
I’d think there would have been frequent near misses leading up to this, given the speed and the described force of impact. That is, unless somebody’s orbit changed.
How long has this Irridium satellite been operational, and how long has the “presumably defunct” Russian Cosmos satellite been operational? What was the purpose of this “presumably defunct” Russian satellite?
That it occurred over Russian territory adds to my level of curiosity.
Maybe I’ve read too much Clancy, but I’ll suspect that it’s a planned, live kill by Russia until proven otherwise.
>>Accidently or intentionally?<<
Precisely!
Most people have no idea how much “space” there really is up there. The likelyhood of this accidentally happening is astronomically small.
No pun intended.
I don’t think Vince Foster committed suicide either...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.