There ’s already enough hazardous dust in celestial orbit , but on Wednesday , an incident occurred that almost create a whole lot more .
It affect NASA ’s operational TIMED orbiter and the defunct Russian Cosmos 2221 satellite , which came alarmingly unaired to colliding about 378 miles ( 608 kilometers ) above Earth .
The two tumid chunks of non - maneuverable metal came within just 20 meter of each other in a high - speed notch that U.S.-based planet - tracking party LeoLabs described as “ too close for comfortableness . ”
LeoLabs saidthat had the two satellites break apart into each other , the resulting junk would ’ve create “ an increased collision peril on a large portion of low - worldly concern electron orbit but specially on nearby lower orbits used by declamatory constellation and human space travel . ” In other words , the International Space Station and China ’s space post , as well as configuration like SpaceX ’s Starlink satellites , would ’ve faced a material scourge from the resulting debris .
Paul Byrne , associate professor of world , environmental , and planetary science at Washington University in St. Louis , saidin a post on social media , “ We just got lucky … Had they collided , the amount of junk in low - Earth field could have increased by 50 % . Instantaneously . ” That think up to 7,500 new fragments of outer space debris .
However , according to LeoLabs ’ calculations , the figure would only have been that in high spirits if the two objects had smashed now into each other . More belike , it enjoin , was that one of the object ’s solar array would ’ve clipped the other object ’s main soundbox . “ In that shell , one object would ’ve been destroyed and the other would ’ve been damage , ” creating up to 2,500 pieces of risky detritus that would still have caused problems for other orbiter .
NASAcommentedthat although the two non - manoeuvrable satellites will border on each other again , “ this was their closest pas in the current promise celestial orbit determinations , as they are bit by bit make a motion aside in altitude . ”
Wednesday ’s near - collision event is the latest reminder of the serious problem of infinite junk in depressed - Earth reach . A number of company are developing waysto clear up the rubble , which mostly comprises defunct satellites , spent rocket parts , and collision detritus , but procession has been slow .
NASA ’s TIMED ( little for Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics ) charge launched in 2001 and studies the influence of the sun and of human activity on Earth ’s mesosphere and down in the mouth thermosphere / ionosphere , while the Russian Cosmos 2221 defence satellite launched in 1992 .
