Tag: Space Debris
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Russia tests anti-satellite missile, debris disrupts International Space Station
Russia’s Kosmos 1408 satellite was destroyed in orbit earlier on Tuesday in what appears to have been a demonstration of Russia’s Nudol anti-satellite missile. While the Russian government has not yet acknowledged the cause of the satellite’s breakup, concerns about debris from the satellite have already disrupted operations aboard the International Space Station and could…
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SpaceX executive pitches Starship for space debris cleanup
File photo of Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer. Credit: NASA/Jay Westcott SpaceX could use its Starship vehicles to clear out space debris in Earth orbit, alongside the program’s more publicized purpose of ferrying people and cargo to the moon and Mars, a company executive said. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating…
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Smallsat companies teaming up on deorbit experiment
Artist’s concept of a satellite manufactured by Millennium Space Systems. Credit: Millennium Space Systems TriSept Corp. has announced plans for a commercial technology demonstration mission set for launch next year on a Rocket Lab Electron vehicle to test a deployable conductive tape, made by Tethers Unlimited, that could help small satellites more quickly fall out…
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Experimental British satellite tests harpoon in orbit
A British satellite released from the International Space Station last year has successfully demonstrated a harpoon that could be used on future missions to clean up space debris, officials announced Friday. The harpoon fired out of the RemoveDebris spacecraft Feb. 8, striking a target plate extended from the satellite on a 4.9-foot (1.5-meter) boom. The…
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Chinese space lab burns up on re-entry over Pacific Ocean
This radar image of the Tiangong 1 space lab was captured Sunday when the module was at an altitude of 100 miles (161 kilometers). Credit: Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Technology (Fraunhofer FHR) China’s Tiangong 1 space lab, home to two astronaut crews in 2012 and 2013, fell back to Earth uncontrolled…
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Images from European satellite reveal possible impact with space junk
The picture shows Sentinel 1A’s solar array before and after the impact of a millimeter-size particle on the second panel. The damaged area has a diameter of about 40 centimeters (16 inches), which is consistent on this structure with the impact of a fragment of less than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) in size. Credit: ESA…
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Re-entering Chinese rocket stage streaks across Western U.S.
Full video of meteor-like event @BadAstronomer pic.twitter.com/q37UzRZKpa — Matt Holt (@mholt6) July 28, 2016 A flaming fragment of space junk from China’s newest satellite launcher blazed through Earth’s atmosphere over the Western United States late Wednesday. Darting across the skies of California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Colorado, the object disintegrated into numerous chunks before disappearing. The…
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U.S. military rules out collision as cause of Hitomi satellite’s woes
The Hitomi satellite is seen Nov. 27 at a press day held before its launch. Credit: JAXA As Japanese ground controllers struggle to restore communications with a tumbling space telescope in orbit, the U.S. military’s space surveillance experts have eliminated one cause for the satellite’s troubles. A military spokesperson told Spaceflight Now in an email…
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Airborne researchers catch up with falling space debris
Stationed aboard a Gulfstream business jet over the Indian Ocean, an international team of scientists observed a mysterious fragment of space junk falling through Earth’s atmosphere Friday years after it was discarded on a deep space mission. Astronomers saw the re-entry, which was predicted after the object’s rediscovery in early October, as a prime research…
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Roving chunk of space junk plunging back to Earth
WT1190F on Nov. 3. Credit: Bill Ryan at Magdalena Ridge Observatory. A long-lost fragment of space debris is falling toward Earth for a searing re-entry over the Indian Ocean on Friday, but the widely-watched event poses no risk to people. Nevertheless, aviation and maritime authorities have cautioned pilots and sailors to steer clear of the…