Satellites Smash Over Siberia

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Satellites Smash Over Siberia

In what sounds like the opening of a new Michael Bay movie, a defunct Russian satellite has annihilated another from the Iridium satellite communications fleet over Siberia.

US Air Force colonel Les Kodlick said that despite the presence of some 18,000 objects in orbit, this is the first time that two satellites have actually collided. More than 500 pieces of satellite shrapnel are now floating around as a result of the crash.

The Russian satellite was a Cosmos telecoms bird launched in 1993 while the Iridium network went bankrupt after it was beaten to becoming the world's first global mobile phone system. However, it was later bought up by the US, and they're more than a little keen to get the fragments back.

The Iridium satellite requires only a small antenna rather than a dish or other directional apparatus. It is critical to many specialist applications today - many of them involving the military and intelligence communities.

NASA officials said that the International Space Station was not thought to be in significant danger as it orbits at an altitude of 220 miles, well below that of the satellite wreckage clouds. Even if it did come close, the ISS has already dodged eight pieces of shrapnel that have come its way.

While conspiracy theorists are running wild over this story already, there is no real reason why a Russian satellite would deliberately hit an American communication satellite. Unless the Lizard people ordered it, of course. But I've already said too much.

Source: The Register [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/12/satellite_collision/]



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[fix-the-spade]

Maybe it had a "Coward killing time," mode?

 

[Brokkr]

I read about this earlier today. I wonder what the chances of two satellites hitting each other are. The article that I read also said that space debris is more dangerous to space shuttle flights than anything else, including taking off and re-entry.

 

[Dudemeister]

It's a new form of war!
The opposing sides fling satellites at each other until one side runs out of money to build new satellites.
The perfect method of war as it's all done in space so no one gets hurt.

 

[ElephantGuts]

Well that sucks. I'm more worried about the shrapnel than the loss of the satellite, though. Since I hear that a paint chip could tear through a space shuttle in space, hundreds of satellite fragments can't be very good, can they?

 

[mokes310]

I read that article the other night, and they said that the Soviet Satellite was launced in 1933...hmmm...did the Soviets have a secret space program that we didn't know about?

 

[Spudgun Man]

It's a new form of war!
The opposing sides fling satellites at each other until one side runs out of money to build new satellites.
The perfect method of war as it's all done in space so no one gets hurt.

apart from the countless peasants, farmers, cattle, children, preists and milkmen that should be catching bits of old satelite in the eye for the next month. Just like the most unlikley death in a game ever which is being hit by a satelite in sims 2.

 

[Dudemeister]

It's a new form of war!
The opposing sides fling satellites at each other until one side runs out of money to build new satellites.
The perfect method of war as it's all done in space so no one gets hurt.

apart from the countless peasants, farmers, cattle, children, preists and milkmen that should be catching bits of old satelite in the eye for the next month. Just like the most unlikley death in a game ever which is being hit by a satelite in sims 2.

Oh yeah.
Well it's that or mass monkey knife fight.

 

[ninjasuperspy]

It's a new form of war!
The opposing sides fling satellites at each other until one side runs out of money to build new satellites.
The perfect method of war as it's all done in space so no one gets hurt.

"No one gets hurt." Except for the potential exponential degradation of orbital space that could blanket the Earth in debris and effectively stop all space exploration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_Syndrome

I'm going to say that Russia has a very active foreign policy. In the last few weeks they have exerted monetary pressure on Kyrgyzstan to close a US Airbase.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/04/kyrgyzstan-us-base-afghanistan

Over the last few years they haven't been too shy about poisoning defectors or strangling neighboring countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia-Ukraine_gas_dispute
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Litvinenko_poisoning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_South_Ossetia_war
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_Abkhazia_and_South_Ossetia

I don't want to sound like a paranoid tinfoil hat guy, but at what point is this supposed to cause us alarm?

 

[Anarchemitis]

Dear Conspiracy dolts:

Either the government is more competent at lying than Lucifer and prolific at the public image of silliness than Monty Python, or it's actually and for truly inept.

I choose the latter.
Sincerely,
Not a Robot.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

And then the Zombies started to rise from their graves...

 

[SnapCracklePop]

This collision is crazy. The chances of it happening are ridiculously low. I found this video about the crash that had some good facts about it.

http://www.newsy.com/videos/russia_and_u_s_collide_in_space/

 

[Dommyboy]

The Soviets are back! The Soviets are back! Time to fight some commies.

 

[Simriel]

The Soviets are back! The Soviets are back! Time to fight some commies.

Tsk Tsk Tsk. Communism is a lie. The giant robot said so.

 

[bodyklok]

More than 500 pieces of satellite shrapnel are now floating around as a result of the crash.

I should just verify here: 500 fragments larger than a centimeter, anything smaller genraly doesn't get counted mainly because it's difficult to detect but also because anything less than a centimeter can do incredible damage.

EDIT: It's also worth mentioning that it's was calculated that take roughly 200 years for all those fragments to fall back down to earth (and of course burn up in the atmosphere or fall in the ocean).

 

[Alex_P]

this is why i also have a landline, so if a cell phone satilite crashes, i can still use the phone...

Cell phones just use cell towers. Phones that use satellites are called satellite phones. They're rather prohibitively expensive, and thus only really used for special-purpose stuff -- disaster management, military communication, the occasional super-long-distance news report.

-- Alex

 

[I III II X4]

Hurray for satellites that use LEO's!

I'm taking bets people, which satellite will be next to bite the dust? Country of origin, model, date sent into orbit, method of demise; no need to rush folks, the odds of collisions will only improve!