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Satellite Collision Debris May Hamper Space Launch

Posted by timothy on from the install-cowcatchers dept.

Matt_dk writes "The debris from a recent collision involving two communications satellites could pose a serious threat for future launches of spacecraft into a geostationary orbit, a Russian scientist said on Friday. Future launches will have to be adjusted with regard to the fact that the debris [from the collision] has spread over an 800-km area and will gather at a common orbit in 5-6 years."

5 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Geostationairy? by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wait a second. I thought the collision was at like 300mi altitude. Now they'r saying this causes problems at Geosynchronous orbit? I thought GEO was at like 30,000 miles above the earth. Also... I didn't think the shuttle planned on traveling that high anyway.

    What am I missing?

  2. Re:Does Anyone Remember the Star Wars Defence Prog by John+Hasler · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Vaporizing the crap is not feasible, nor is putting extremely large lasers in orbit. Fortunately, neither is necessary. You build a very high peak-power pulse laser on the ground and use it to hit the bits of debris with femtosecond pulses that vaporize a few micrograms off each of them. The vapor acts like a rocket engine, its reaction force slightly changing the orbit. Hit each bit again every time it comes around and soon it is in a decaying orbit. Space Broom

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  3. Pedantic by MushMouth · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They are actually called Canada Geese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_goose

  4. Why did the sats collide ? by SlashV · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't understand why these satellites collided in the first place. I understand NASA tracks pretty much all objects larger than a bolt in orbit. Why wasn't the collisision predicted and prevented ? The Iridium satellite was still active as I understand it, so it must have had some capability still to avoid the collision. Can someone enlighten me here ?

  5. 800 Km area? by stoicio · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There appears to be some 2 dimensional thinking going on here.
    The statement '8 Km area' would lead one to believe that the debris has
    spread out over a flat plane.

    Obviously, when things collide in space, there is more of a
    cloud of debris than a pool table of debris.

    What is th actual **VOLUME** and 3 dimensional scale of the problem
    and where is it located in 3 dimensional space?

    The debris is also not static. It will continue to move and expand
    in orbit.