Last Wednesday (8), the European Union’s Space Monitoring and Tracking Program (EUSST) issued a statement warning of the possibility of a collision between two large satellites, which will happen earlier today (9). According to EUSST calculations, the probability of a collision occurred 20% over the Arctic – the team is now continuing to seek more details to confirm whether or not the accident did happen.
According to forecasts, the passive US satellite OPS 6182 (NORAD 10820) and the remainder of the Russian SL-8 missile (NORAD 12443) will collide today at around 2:18 pm (Brasilia time), at an altitude of 790 km. At a speed of about 52 km / h. EUSST, which has been monitoring these objects for the past few weeks, estimates that they will pass at least 10 meters from each other – due to their large size, the chances of a collision increase.
Thousands of potential debris from this collision could endanger other operating satellites. According to EUSST, “more than 400 pieces of fragments resulting from a potential collision will be greater than 20 cm”, which, at high speed, are capable of causing significant damage. The number of these collisions has increased over the past few years, not only because of the increase in the number of satellites in orbit, but also the large amount of space debris scattered around the planet.
Since the expected collision site is so remote, the monitoring team needs to wait a few hours to confirm whether or not the collision has occurred. Upgrade through TwitterAnd EUSST accused the sensor network of detecting only one object through the three radars after the expected approach between the two satellites. Apparently, there has been no accident, but it is imperative that these things continue to be followed to confirm.
Source: Living Sciences
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