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VIRTUALISATION Space highway crowded: Two major satellites collide
VIRTUALISATION Space highway crowded: Two major satellites collide | Space highway crowded: Two major satellites collide |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Saturday, 14 February 2009 | |
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The collision in space is considered by space experts to be the first major collision of two intact satellites in Earth orbit--with both weighing in at over 1,000 pounds (on Earth). In what is being described as an “unprecedented event,” both satellites--Kosmos-2251 and Iridium 33--were totally destroyed when at 1655 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), 11:55 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), they collided with each about 790 kilometers (490 miles) above northern Siberia. The Kosmos-2251, or Cosmos-2251) satellite, was a Russian Strela-2M communications satellite. It was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 0417 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on June 16, 1993 aboard a Kosmos-3M rocket. The 1,984-pound (900-kilogram) satellite stopped functioning in 1995. Media reports are claiming that the Kosmos-2251 was not under control of the Russian space agency; however, the Russians are not commenting on these claims. According to Space.com, NASA reported that the satellite did not have a maneuvering system. [Space.com] The Iridium 33 satellite, owned by the U.S. company Iridium Satellite LLC, was a communications satellite launched at 0136 GMT on September 14, 1997. The 1,234-pound (560-kilogram) satellite was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by a Proton-K rocket. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reported the next day (Wednesday, February 11) that the crash caused two massive debris clouds at the collision site. Reports are also coming in that up to five hundred (500) fragments have been scattered due to the collision. Page two continues with a quote from a NASA spokesperson, along with risks to the next space shuttle mission, to the International Space Station, and to the Hubble Space Telescope. |
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