Debris From Russian Anti-Satellite Test Nearly Slammed Into Chinese Satellite

A Chinese satellite tv for pc virtually bit the mud on Tuesday when particles produced by Russia’s 2021 anti-satellite take a look at zipped previous at an uncomfortably shut distance.

China Aerospace News announced the shut encounter on Weibo, saying an early warning system managed by China’s Space Debris Monitoring and Application Center detected the potential collision. Thankfully, nothing unhealthy occurred.

The Tsinghua Science Satellite, identified to NORAD as object 46026, was projected to make “an extremely dangerous rendezvous” with particles attributable to Russia’s harmful anti-satellite (ASAT) take a look at from November 15, 2021, in response to China’s area administration. The closest strategy occurred on January 18, when Tsinghua got here inside 48 ft (14.5 meters) of the wayward fragment, in response to China National Space Administration.

Jonathan McDowell from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics stated U.S. monitoring independently confirmed the shut encounter, whereas cautioning that uncertainties exist concerning the precise distances concerned. Speaking to SpaceNews, McDowell stated it’s “very unlikely China’s tracking can determine this distance to an accuracy of better than 100 meters [328 feet] or more, so ‘within a few hundred meters’ is probably all they can reliably say.”

Last November, Russia used a missile to intentionally blow up Cosmos-1408, a defunct 4,400-pound (2,000 kg) satellite tv for pc launched in 1982. The ensuing particles area pressured ISS astronauts and cosmonauts to search shelter. U.S. Space Command said the take a look at produced not less than 1,500 bits of trackable particles that “will likely generate hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller orbital debris” over time. NASA administrator Bill Nelson issued a assertion the next day, saying he was “outraged” by the take a look at and that “[a]ll nations have a responsibility to prevent the purposeful creation of space debris from ASATs and to foster a safe, sustainable space environment.”

The orbit of the Tsinghua Science Satellite ranges from 297 to 310 miles (478 to 499 km) above Earth’s floor, the place it has been performing atmospheric and gravity measurements since being launched in 2020. Chinese state officers haven’t but commented on the ASAT take a look at, nor are they anticipated to given the nation’s personal ASAT take a look at from 2007, which likewise produced a harmful particles area. The U.S. and India have additionally carried out profitable ASAT checks, in 2008 and 2019.

In a associated incident from March 2021, Russian area junk, particularly the discarded remnants of an previous rocket, smashed into and destroyed China’s Yunhai 1-02 satellite tv for pc. Near misses and collisions are anticipated to extend as extra objects are tossed into low Earth orbit, and as area particles begets extra space particles, in a course of often known as Kessler Syndrome. An estimated 330 million bits of particles at present exist within the area above Earth.

More: What to Know About Kessler Syndrome, the Ultimate Space Disaster