Russian Satellite Hit by Debris from Chinese Anti-Satellite Test

Apollyon

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Russian Satellite Hit by Debris from Chinese Anti-Satellite Test

by Leonard David, SPACE.com's Space Insider Columnist
Date: 08 March 2013 Time: 05:25 PM ET


A small Russian spacecraft in orbit appears to have been struck by Chinese space junk from a 2007 anti-satellite test, likely damaging the Russian craft, possibly severely, SPACE.com has learned.

The space collision appears to have occurred on Jan. 22, when a chunk of China's Fengyun 1C satellite, which was intentionally destroyed by that country in a 2007 anti-satellite demonstration, struck the Russian spacecraft, according to an analysis by the Center for Space Standards & Innovation (CSSI) in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

CSSI technical program manager T.S. Kelso reported that the collision involved the Chinese space junk and Russia's small Ball Lens In The Space (BLITS) retroreflector satellite, a 17-pound (7.5 kilograms). The Fengyun 1C satellite debris was created during China's anti-satellite test on Jan. 11, 2007, and has posed a threat to satellites and crewed spacecraft ever since.

Evidence of the space junk collision was first reported on Feb. 4 by Russian scientists Vasiliy Yurasov and Andrey Nazarenko, both with the Institute for Precision Instrument Engineering (IPIE) in Moscow. They reported a "significant change" in the orbit of the BLITS satellite to the CSSI.\

It is not immediately clear whether the satellite is merely wounded or completely incapacitated.

The space collision is the second substantial in-space accident between an active spacecraft and a defunct satellite or piece of space debris. In February 2009, a U.S. communications satellite was destroyed when it was hit by a defunct Russian military satellite, creating a vast debris cloud in orbit.



Known orbit planes of Fengyun-1C debris one month after its 2007 disintegration by a Chinese anti-satellite (ASAT) interceptor. The white orbit represents the International Space Station.
CREDIT: NASA Orbital Debris Program Office
Russian Satellite Hit by Chinese Anti-Satellite Test Debris | Space.com
 

DivineHeretic

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After the grey market, Chinese junk reached space too.
This actually begs the question...

When We conduct our exo-atmospheric test at 200km altitude this May, will it not create a much larger amount of debris? The two missiles involved are fairly larger than a satellite and will shatter into more pieces owing to larger size.

Not that this is good enough reason to stop the test.
 

angeldude13

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this news is :bs:
how they know the debris that hit them was chinese and not the american
 

Bhadra

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Russia should supply more SU-35 to China and China should hit more Russian satalites !!
 

p2prada

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This actually begs the question...

When We conduct our exo-atmospheric test at 200km altitude this May, will it not create a much larger amount of debris? The two missiles involved are fairly larger than a satellite and will shatter into more pieces owing to larger size.

Not that this is good enough reason to stop the test.
200Km is harmless. Satellites are in the 400Km and higher altitude.

Nothing prevents the debris from being burnt up after reentry and whatevers left won't be a threat to satellites.
 

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