Space crash caused debris

Space crash caused debris

MOSCOW - THE crash of two satellites has generated an estimated tens of thousands of pieces of space junk that could circle Earth and threaten other satellites for the next 10,000 years, space experts said.

One expert called the collision 'a catastrophic event' that he hoped would force President Barack Obama's administration to address the long-ignored issue of debris in space.

Russian Mission Control chief Vladimir Solovyov said Tuesday's smashup of a derelict Russian military satellite and a working US Iridium commercial satellite occurred in the busiest part of near-Earth space - some 500 miles (800 kilometres) above Earth.

'800 kilometers is a very popular orbit which is used by Earth-tracking and communications satellites,' Solovyov told reporters on Friday. 'The clouds of debris pose a serious danger to them.' Solovyov said debris from the collision could stay in orbit for up to 10,000 years and even tiny fragments threaten spacecraft because both travel at such a high orbiting speed.

James Oberg, an experienced aerospace engineer who worked on Nasa's space shuttle programme and is now a space consultant, described the crash over northern Siberia as 'catastrophic event.' Nasa said it was the first-ever high-speed impact between two intact spacecraft - with the Iridium craft weighing 1,235 pounds (560 kilogrammes) and the Russian craft nearly a tonne.

'At physical contact at orbital speeds, a hypersonic shock wave bursts outwards through the structures,' Mr Oberg said in e-mailed comments. 'It literally shreds the material into confetti and detonates any fuels.' Most fragments are concentrated near the collision course, but Major-General Alexander Yakushin, chief of staff of the Russian military's Space Forces, said some debris was thrown into other orbits, ranging from 300 to 800 miles (500-1,300 kilometres) above Earth.

David Wright at the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security said the collision had possibly generated tens of thousands of particles larger than 1 centimeter (half an inch), any of which could significantly damage or even destroy a satellite.

Mr Wright, in a posting on the group's website, said the two large debris clouds from Tuesday's crash will spread over time, forming a shell around Earth. He likened the debris to 'a shotgun blast that threatens other satellites in the region.' Meanwhile, there's no global air traffic control system that tracks the position of all satellites.

The US military tracks some 17,000 pieces of space debris larger than 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimetres), along with some 900 active satellites. But its main job is protecting the international space station and other manned spacecraft, and it lacks the resources to warn all satellite operators of every possible close call.

Mr Oberg said the limited accuracy of tracking data and computer calculations makes it impossible to predict collisions, only their probability. He said most satellites also have little fuel to escape what most likely would be a false alarm.

'The collision offers a literally heaven-sent opportunity for the Obama administration to take forceful, visible and long-overdue measures to address a long-ignored issue of 'space debris,'' Mr Oberg said. -- AP

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_338245.html