Satellite collision

Bookworm · Post by **Bookworm** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 12:34 am

Two space satellites smashed into each other on Tuesday in an unprecedented orbital accident. Government agencies are still assessing the aftermath, but early radar measurements have detected hundreds of pieces of debris that could pose a risk to other spacecraft.

As first reported by CBS News, a defunct Russian Cosmos satellite and a communication satellite owned by the US firm Iridium collided some 790 kilometres above northern Siberia on Tuesday.

"This is the first time that two intact spacecraft have accidentally run into each other," says Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist of NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office in Houston, Texas.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1658...space-junk.html

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manadren · Post by **manadren** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 12:44 am

Not terribly surprising, but still kinda scary. We do have a bit of a space junk problem up there. The real question is, how do you clean it up?

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Bookworm · Post by **Bookworm** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 12:53 am

manadren wrote: The real question is, how do you clean it up?

Star Wars weapon system practice, perhaps?

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Red Squirrel · Post by **Red Squirrel** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 2:59 am

lasers!

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fcbayer · Post by **fcbayer** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 4:01 pm

i don't think we have such a powerful laser to do that

but just curious isn't this a safety issue for the international spacestation with all of that junk fly everywhere?

and for the junk to fall back to the earth's surface would take some time

i would assume that all of the junk would just burn up completly in the earth's atmostphere

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