A collision involving the Russian satellite Ball Lens In The Space (BLITS) that occurred on Jan. 22 appears to have been caused by the remains of a destroyed Chinese satellite. It is only the second time that an active spacecraft and an artificial object have collided in space.
According to the Center for Space Standards and Innovation (CSSI), based in Colorado Springs, Colo., the debris came from a Chinese spacecraft called the Fengyun 1C satellite. The Fengyun 1C was intentionally destroyed in 2007 during an anti-satellite demonstration because it had gone beyond its service life.
Russian scientists Vasiliy Yurasov and Andrew Nazarenko of the Institute for Precision Instrument Engineering (IPIE) in Moscow initially reported the collision on Feb. 4. At the time they described changes in the BLITS spacecraft's orbit, spin velocity and altitude.
"It's not the wake-up call — we've had too many of those already," says technical advisor with the Secure World Foundation Brian Weeden.
"Many satellites in LEO [low-Earth orbit] are having to maneuver on a regular basis to avoid threatening close approaches with debris," Weeden wrote to Space.com in an email. "This is just one more data point that shatters the myth of the 'big sky' theory regarding space activities and shows that debris is one of the most pressing threats satellite operations in SEO have to contend with."
NASA scientists estimate that after the Fengyun 1C satellite exploded it left a debris cloud comprised of about 500,000 objects larger than a marble and 22,000 larger than a softball. Even such small objects can cause substantial damage due to the fact that they travel at about 17,500 mph.
The Russian BLITS satellite, termed a nanosatellite, was launched on a Russian rocket in 2009 and was tracked for precision satellite laser-ranging experiments by the International Laser Ranging Service.
There are about 900 satellites currently in orbit around Earth. NASA estimates that at least 600,000 objects larger than 0.39 inches orbit the planet, along with at least 16,000 objects larger than 3.9 inches. The objects are partly comprised of spacecraft parts as well as abandoned or destroyed satellites.
