MOSCOW – The first space crash between US and Russian satellites has produced clouds of debris that threaten other nearby satellites, according to scientists.
The collision, 805km (500 miles) over Siberia, involved a derelict Russian satellite designed for military communications and a US Iridium satellite which serves commercial customers as well as the US department of defence.
Nasa said it would take weeks to know the full scale of the crash’s effects, but both Nasa and Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, said there was little risk to the international space station and its three crew members.
Both the US space surveillance network and Russian space forces are tracking the debris, believed to be travelling at speeds of about 200m (660ft) a second.
Russian space expert Igor Lisov said it might threaten earth-tracking and weather satellites in similar orbits, as well as a host of old Soviet-built nuclear-powered spacecraft in higher orbits.
There have been four other cases in which space objects have collided accidentally in orbit, Nasa said, but those were considered minor and involved parts of spent rockets or small satellites.
As of yesterday, there were 9,831 pieces of man-made debris – not counting anything from the collision – orbiting Earth.
The items, at least 10cm (four inches) in size, are being tracked by the US space surveillance network, which is operated by the military. “The collisions are going to be becoming more and more important in the coming decades,” a Nasa spokesman said. – (AP)