Satellites Collide, Put Space Station at Risk

By Joel Achenbach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Two communications satellites collided yesterday 491 miles above Siberia, exploding in two clouds of debris that have put the International Space Station at what NASA has called a "very small" but "elevated" risk of being struck.

This is an unprecented event in space. Orbital junk has collided before, but this is the first time two fully intact satellites have smashed into each other. According to NASA, one was an an Iridium satellite launched in 1997; the other was a Russian Cosmos satellite launched in 1993 and presumed to be non-operational.

While NASA officials are closely monitoring the debris fields for any hazard posed to the space station, they're also concerned about 20 NASA satellites that are in orbits similar to that of the Cosmos and Iridium spacecraft. Other commercial satellites are in similar orbits and could be endangered.

The space station is in a much lower orbit, about 220 miles above the Earth. The debris, however, will continue to spread, and potentially could force the station to make an avoidance maneuver, said NASA spokesman John Yembrick.

(More here.)