An old Soviet satellite disintegrated in orbit
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The old Soviet satellite disintegrated approximately 1,400 kilometers from Earth’s orbit. This probably happened due to a collision with space debris, writes Space. “A defunct Soviet satellite, launched in 1991, broke into seven fragments after a collision with space debris. These fragments probably came from Cosmos-2143 or Cosmos-2145 launched on the same rocket,” the astrophysicist and expert said. from space debris Jonathan McDowell. Researchers are concerned about the old Soviet satellites, which are at an altitude of 800 km above the Earth, the side objects can interfere with the work of new satellites. Photo: EvgeniyShkolenko/Depositphotos For example, in February 2009, an object called “Cosmos 2251” collided with a working satellite of the American telecommunications company Iridium at an altitude of 789 kilometers above the Earth. Because of this, a huge cloud of space debris was formed. In January 2023, a dead Soviet satellite and a spent Soviet missile came within 6 meters of each other. In the event of a collision of these objects, thousands of new dangerous fragments would arise. The danger of space debris Earth’s radars track only space objects 10 centimeters in size. Currently, about 34,550 such objects are known to exist in Earth’s orbit. The European Space Agency states that there are currently almost a million fragments of space debris between 1 and 10 centimeters in size orbiting our planet. And the approximate number of pieces from 1 to 10 millimeters in size is 130 million. However, researchers believe that even the smallest space debris causes great damage to the Earth’s orbit. Read also: Not a comet, but space debris from Russia: a fiery “meteor” was seen near Australia
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