As satellites in low earth orbit multiply, the chance of satellite collision grows. The International Space Station is no exception to this risk, and it just avoided impact from another satellite by firing the thrusters on Progress 83.
The ISS Moves Out of the Way
At around 7:42 AM or 12:42 GMT, the ISS was boosted out of the way to avoid collision with an Earth-imaging satellite. The thrusters on the Progress 83 resupply spacecraft, which is currently docked in the ISS, were fired for more than six minutes in order to evade the potential impact.
NASA's Johnson Space Center's Sandra Jones noted that the spacecraft avoided by the ISS was an Argentinian Earth-observation satellite launched in 2020. Astronomer and astrophysicist Dr. Jonathan McDowell said it could be the Nusat-17.
According to Space, Nusat-17 is among the ten satellites launched by Satellogic, a geospatial data company. McDowell also mentioned that the Nusat constellation is one of many whose orbits are approaching the ISS's orbit.
The astronauts in the ISS had plenty of time to perform the maneuver since NASA received the alerts for the potential collision around 30 hours ahead of time. A pre-determined avoidance maneuver (PDAM) was calculated for the avoidance.
20 minutes before the PDAM was conducted, a "green update" was received on the conjunction, which meant that the satellite will not make an impact. Still, the ground teams performed the maneuver since the thrusters were already enabled.
The Space Station has already done so many times before. Back in 2022, the ISS avoided two potential collisions. Its highest is in 2014 when astronauts maneuvered the gigantic spacecraft out of the impact trajectory five times.
The 2022 corrections were both to avoid debris from the Cosmos 1408 satellite. The satellite was subjected to Russia's anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons test back in November 2021, which the international community disapproved of, reports say.
Satellite Pollution
Ever since the first Sputnik satellite was launched, many others followed and launched their own devices and spacecraft into space. As this continues, the low-earth orbit is becoming more and more polluted, posing a risk to active satellites.
A lot of technology for communication, navigation, weather forecasting, and more, relies on connections brought by satellites. Several agencies continue to launch satellites until now, and will likely do so for years to come.
Around 23,000 man-made fragments bigger than four inches are still orbiting the planet, along with approximately 500,000 pieces between 0.4 inches and 4 inches, according to National Geographic. Despite its small size, the speed at which it travels could still prove to be a threat.
Debris can go as fast as 22,300 mph. By comparison, a bullet travels 1,800 mph when fired. To further explain just how dangerous it can be, a small piece of space debris hit the ISS back in 2006, which chipped a heavily reinforced window.
In 2009, the inactive Russian satellite Cosmos 2251 and the active US-based communication satellite Iridium 33, collided at approximately 22,300 mph, which resulted in the two exploding into thousands of pieces of debris.
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