Whoa, how did I miss this Tuesday?
"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."
Yikes! Apparently it will take some time to learn just how much debris will now be floating around, and that it will be many years before the pieces fall back to Earth. While there's no danger for us - the debris will burn up in the atmosphere - it could become a problem if the pieces smash into other satellites or the Space Station.
Given that there are nearly 20,000 satellites and other objects orbiting the Earth at any given time, it's kind of surprising that outer space crashes don't happen more often.
-Rabiah
Author's Note: Sources:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16584-satellite-collision-creates-copious-space-junk.html
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=space-crash-commercial-and-russian-2009-02-11
Editor's Note: For more blogs from Dr. Rabiah, visit Science Chicago's website at: http://www.sciencechicagoblog.com
