Russian space junk hit Chinese satellite in March
It now appears that the partial breakup of a Chinese military satellite in March 2021 was caused when it collided with a piece of rocket space junk leftover from a 1996 Russian launch.
It appears that the object that hit the satellite was one of eight pieces left over in orbit from that Russian launch that have been tracked over the years, and was somewhere between 4 and 20 inches in size. The result of the collision?
Thirty-seven debris objects spawned by the smashup have been detected to date, and there are likely others that remain untracked, he added.
Despite the damage, Yunhai 1-02 apparently survived the violent encounter, which occurred at an altitude of 485 miles (780 kilometers). Amateur radio trackers have continued to detect signals from the satellite, McDowell said, though it’s unclear if Yunhai 1-02 can still do the job it was built to perform (whatever that may be).
According to the article, this was the first major orbital collision since 2009, though similar collisions are suspected in 2013 and 2015.
It now appears that the partial breakup of a Chinese military satellite in March 2021 was caused when it collided with a piece of rocket space junk leftover from a 1996 Russian launch.
It appears that the object that hit the satellite was one of eight pieces left over in orbit from that Russian launch that have been tracked over the years, and was somewhere between 4 and 20 inches in size. The result of the collision?
Thirty-seven debris objects spawned by the smashup have been detected to date, and there are likely others that remain untracked, he added.
Despite the damage, Yunhai 1-02 apparently survived the violent encounter, which occurred at an altitude of 485 miles (780 kilometers). Amateur radio trackers have continued to detect signals from the satellite, McDowell said, though it’s unclear if Yunhai 1-02 can still do the job it was built to perform (whatever that may be).
According to the article, this was the first major orbital collision since 2009, though similar collisions are suspected in 2013 and 2015.