A Russian satellite has broken up into at least 180 pieces of debris in space, forcing a NASA crew to temporarily shelter in the International Space Station, US officials say.
RESURS-P1 Russian Earth observation satellite, operated by the Russian space agency Roscosmos and declared dead in 2022. disintegrated in low Earth orbit around noon ET on Wednesday, according to the US Space Command.
Space Command “has not observed any threats” and is continuing to conduct assessments “to support the security and stability of the space domain.”
The agency did not specify what might have caused the breakup, and Roscosmos did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
The NASA crew shelters in the spacecraft for an hour
Debris from the satellite’s breakup prompted the NASA crew aboard the space station to shelter in their respective spacecraft for an hour as a precaution.
Throughout that hour, Mission Control monitored the path of the debris before allowing the crew to exit and resume their operations, NASA wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Radar detected at least 180 pieces of debris from the incident, US space tracking firm LeoLabs confirmed on Thursday.
“We expect this number to increase in the coming days. We are actively analyzing the debris cloud to characterize it, identify a possible cause, and assess the impact,” wrote LeoLabs on X.
Space debris can affect the Internet, communication
The addition of large debris into space could threaten satellite networks that are essential to Earth, including Internet use, communications and even navigation services. Also known as space debris, parts of non-operational satellites and other man-made objects can still orbit the Earth even after they cease to function.
The European Space Agency warned that multiple debris and the subsequent cascade of collisions could make Earth’s orbit unusable for space travel in a theoretical scenario known as Kessler Syndrome.
In 2021, Russia was responsible for an explosion that added thousands of pieces of orbital debris. This happened when a disabled satellite hit one of its ground-based anti-satellite missiles launched from the Plesetsk missile site.
In 2009, two satellites collided over Siberia adding more debris to space, according to a American scientists report that year.
Scientists have raised concerns about the rapidly overcrowded Earth orbit with the ESA warning that the impact could be irreversible. Organizations around the world including ESA and NASA have taken concrete action. Last year, ESA adopted the Zero Debris Charter, which calls for a global commitment to virtually eliminate space debris by 2030.
Contributed by: Eric Lagatta
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