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The larger pieces of debris \u2013 usually originating from expended satellite and rocket hardware \u2013 are tracked by Space Command\/NORAD, allowing for any threats to spacecraft to be known in advance, providing them a heads up to move into a different path and thus avoid a collision.<\/p>\n
Most of the time the threats \u2013 known as conjunctions \u2013 are evaluated over time and seen to be avoiding the Station. Sometimes they are seen late, with no time to \u2018steer\u2019 the ISS out of the debris\u2019 potential track.<\/p>\n
One such incident occurred on March 13, 2009 \u2013 when a \u201cRED Late Conjunction\u201d threat resulted in NASA\u2019s Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke, Russian Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov, and NASA\u2019s Sandra Magnus being asked to \u2018evacuate\u2019 into the \u201csafe haven\u201d of the docked Soyuz, as the \u201825090 PAM-D\u2019 debris closed in on the Station.<\/p>\n
Per Flight Rule B4-101, this \u201clate conjunction\u201d call results in the crew being ordered to close the hatches between Station modules and enter the Soyuz vehicles \u2013 which serve as lifeboats during their docked stay at the ISS \u2013 before TCA (Time of Closest Approach) breaches the 10 minute mark.<\/p>\n
![\"2014-11-14](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-14-00_01_59-Soyuz-TMA-16-launches-for-journey-to-ISS-%E2%80%93-Safe-Haven-evaluations-_-NASASpaceFli-350x232.jpg\")
The crew will initiate an emergency departure from the Station if the debris threat realizes itself into an impact and causes a breach of the life support environment.<\/p>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n
The 2009 threat, which had the capability of puncturing one of the Station\u2019s modules, was a simple \u2018yo weight\u2019, originally part of a Delta PAM-D stage used to launch GPS 37 in 1993.<\/p>\n
After a tense wait, the threat passed by the Station without making an impact, allowing for the crew to re-enter the ISS and re-open the hatches to the modules.<\/p>\n
![\"2014-11-13](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-11-13-23_45_49-Soyuz-TMA-16-launches-for-journey-to-ISS-%E2%80%93-Safe-Haven-evaluations-_-NASASpaceFli-350x265.jpg\")
DAMs can be conducted by a number of docked vehicles, providing a push to move the Station out of the debris threat\u2019s path. The Space Shuttle providing such a role when required by Station, while the Russian Progress also lends a hand on occasion.<\/p>\nThe Station can even conduct DAMs on her own, using the thrusters on the Zvezda module.<\/p>\n
However, a docked spacecraft can save the use of the ISS\u2019 propellant reserves, as was the case this week.<\/p>\n
ATV-5, the last of Europe\u2019s resupply vehicles to launch to the ISS, has been at the orbital outpost since August. <\/p>\n
![\"linktoarticleplease2\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/linktoarticleplease2.gif\")
The vehicle has been assisting the Station with more than just its array of supplies, but also with reboosts and also a PDAM back on October 27. Such requirements are factored into an ATV mission, with a large amount of onboard propellant available.<\/p>\n(ATV-3 Docking Animation created from 70 hi res ATV-3 docking images acquired by L2 \u2013 LINK).<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s PDAM was more interesting than most, given the debris was identified as from a Chinese spy satellite.<\/p>\n
\u201cPre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM): The team performed a Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) of 0.5 m\/s in order to dodge a repeating conjunction concern with Object 39372 (Yaogan 12 Debris),\u201d noted L2 ISS Status information.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Z416.jpg\")
Yaogan-12 was launched back in November, 2011 by a Long March 4B. It is a second generation electro-optical observation satellite equipped with a small angular observation system.<\/p>\nThe Chinese media always class this range of satellite as remote sensing birds that are used for \u201cscientific experiments, land survey, crop yield assessment, and disaster monitoring.\u201d However, it is widely known in the West that they are based on the Phoenix Eye-2 satellite platform and used for military purposes.<\/p>\n
While the satellite itself was not the debris threat, the early cataloging of the associated debris \u2013 known as object #39372\/2011-066G, YAOGAN 12 DEB \u2013 could be the satellite\u2019s discarded lens cap or cover.<\/p>\n
With the Station shoved out of the object\u2019s path, nominal operations are continuing. Also, the timing of the PDAM also killed two birds with one stone \u2013 removing the need for a pre-planned reboost, that was also to be conducted by ATV-5.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe PDAM was completed nominally, and the ISS is back in a nominal Torque Equilibrium Attitude (TEA),\u201d added ISS Status. \u201cSince the PDAM was executed , the reboost that was planned for later is no longer required, and will not be performed.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Images: Via ESA, NASA, and L2).<\/p>\n
(Click here: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/l2\/ \u2013 to join L2 and directly support NASASpaceflight.com).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Europe\u2019s ATV-5 cargo ship helped \u2018shove\u2019 the International Space Station (ISS) out of the path of a piece of space debris this week. The Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) was required after a tracked object \u2013 possibly a lens cap\/cover \u2013 from the Chinese spy satellite, Yaogan 12, became a \u201crepeating conjunction concern\u201d for the orbital outpost. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4140,233,8970,8551],"class_list":["post-39461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-atv","tag-iss","tag-mmod","tag-yaogan-weixing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}