At the end of February, a Russian dish and a US dish almost collided, and NASA is then able to reveal how near the two spacecraft were to colliding in what could have been a fatal accident.
The two satellites, which cannot be steered or maneuvered, passed with less than 10 meters— or about 30 feet — between them on Feb. 28 in a surprising second that “really scared” experts at the place company, NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy said at a conference this week.
NASA was aware that the Department of Defense was keeping an eye on the situation with the defunct Russia spy satellite Cosmos 2221 and its own Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics Mission ( TIMED ) spacecraft because they were already close to one another.
However, its scientists did not anticipate that the two would cross paths for for a short range.
” It was very shocking individually and for all of us at NASA”, Melroy said at the Space Foundation’s Space Symposium event in Colorado Tuesday, according to The Telegraph.
She told the live market,” We recently discovered that the journey ended up being less than 10 feet off — less than the distance from me to the top row.”
The former astronaut claimed that those 10 feet were the only barrier between normalcy and a possibly fatal catastrophe.
According to the store,” we would have witnessed dust technology, tiny fragments traveling at 10,000 miles per hour, waiting to puncture a hole in another spaceship and potentially putting human lives at risk” if the two satellites had collided.
It’s kind of sombering to think that something the size of the pencil’s eraser was cause for aww wreak havoc, but it can. We’re all nervous about this”, she said. ” TIMED really scared us,”
As storage visitors increases, near misses and possible fatalities are getting more frequent, with Elon Musk’s SpaceX launching hundreds of satellites into Earth’s circle.
More than 10, 000 satellites now orbit Earth — a four- slide improve since 2019, according to the Telegraph.
And more than tens of thousands are coming.
Across the globe, an estimated 400, 000 satellites have been greenlit for launching into low Earth orbit with another 16, 000 former and dying satellites in orbit at any one moment — creating a “monumental” problem, the release reported.
” This difficulty is huge. Because there are so many models available, we ca n’t even come to terms with how many pieces of debris are in orbit, Melory said.
In a concept known as Kessler Syndrome, one dead satellite that collides with another spacecraft could cause a fatal chain reaction in Earth’s occupied lower orbit space as debris from the wreckage was collide with other circling objects, similar to a car crash that results in a multi-car pile-up on the highway.
To better map and monitor all satellites and dust in Earth’s circle, NASA released its Space Sustainability Strategy on Tuesday in an effort to stop these tragedies.
A number of private companies are even developing technology to eliminate satellites from Earth’s orbit and get them.
” Space is active. We’ve been trying hard on ourselves, so NASA is moving forward with a plan to ensure that we take the right steps,” Melroy said.
