A Russian satellite that was no longer working broke down in more than 100 pieces in orbitforcing International Space Station astronauts to take shelter for about an hour and adding to the mass of space debris already in orbit, US space agencies said.
There were no immediate details on the cause of the breakup of the Russian Earth observation satellite RESURS-P1, which Russia declared dead in 2022.
The US Space Command, which is tracking the debris swarm, He said there was no immediate threat to other satellites.
The incident occurred in close orbit around the space station, forcing the American astronauts on board to take shelter in their spacecraft for about an hour, NASA’s Space Station office said.
The satellite breakup occurred at an altitude of about 355 kilometers in low Earth orbita popular region where thousands of small and large satellites operate, including SpaceX’s vast Starlink network and one from China that houses three of its astronauts.
“Due to the low orbit of this debris cloud, we estimate that it will be weeks or months before the danger has passed,” LeoLabs said in a statement to the agency. Reuters.
The nearly 25,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimeters in space, caused by explosions or satellite collisions, have raised concerns about the possibility of a “Kessler effect,” a phenomenon in which satellite collisions occur. with rubbish can create a more dangerous progression of scrap metal and exponentially increase collision risks.
According to NASA, the procedure in response to the satellite’s failure was a “standard precautionary measure.” Now, the crew is back to performing its routine tasks. “Mission Control continued to monitor the path of the debris and, after approximately one hour, the crew was cleared to exit their spacecraft and the station resumed normal operations,” NASA said.
The International Space Station is home not only to international flight crews, but also to multiple launch vehicles, globally distributed flight and launch operations, training, engineering, development facilities and communications networks. The accident appears not to have disrupted preparations for the next spacewalk on the ISS, which is scheduled for next week. NASA said preparations are continuing. At the same time, orbiters are rebuilding advanced plumbing equipment and repairing scientific and video hardware.
(With information from Reuters and EFE)
