[Atmob-discuss] An iridium bird bites the dust

[Paul A. Valleli]

 Peter:
 WHUPS!  AF Cambridge Research Labs at Hanscom Field
 was charged with tracking and preventing collisions.
 They claimed that they could detect individual nuts
 and bolts,and misplaced gloves in orbit. Even a golf
 ball at synchronous orbital distance. Supposedly,
 the white tool pack that Sandy Magnusson "dropped"
 from the ISS was 7th magnitude - easy foder for the
 52-inch GEODS tracking scopes.
 Time for an Oversight Committee and investigation !
 Paul
   
 ---- Original message ----

   Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:16:39 -0500
   From: "Peter Bealo" <pbealo at comcast.net>
   Subject: [Atmob-discuss] An iridium bird bites the
   dust
   To: "'ATMOB-discuss'" <atmob-discuss at atmob.org>

By ANDY PASZTOR

   A commercial satellite
   owned by a U.S. company was destroyed in a
   collision with a defunct Russian
   military satellite in what NASA said was the first
   such accident in orbit,
   raising new concerns about the dangers of space
   debris.

   The crash, which
   happened Tuesday in low-earth orbit, involved one
   of the satellites owned by
   closely held Iridium Satellite LLC and a crippled
   Russian military satellite
   that apparently stopped functioning years ago,
   according to U.S. government
   and satellite-industry officials.

   The collision created
   two large clouds of debris floating roughly 480
   miles above Siberia,
   and prompted space scientists and engineers to
   assess the likelihood of further
   collisions.

   The accident could have
   implications for U.S. space
   budgets and policy, partly because it comes amid a
   Pentagon campaign to
   increase spending on systems to protect U.S.
   high-tech space hardware by
   keeping better track of the thousands of pieces of
   debris and other satellites
   circling the Earth.

   As more and more
   satellites are blasted into orbit, the challenges
   of keeping them from hitting
   debris or each other are growing. Military
   planners also worry about enemies
   jamming, disabling or potentially even ramming
   U.S. satellites.

   Industry officials say
   Iridium has identified the Russian craft as a
   Cosmos series satellite launched
   in 1993, weighing more than a ton and including an
   onboard nuclear reactor.
   That couldn't be independently verified. Experts
   have said the chance of
   radioactive debris surviving a fall through the
   atmosphere and reaching
   inhabited areas is very small.

   The Russian Embassy
   couldn't be reached for comment.

   More than 220 active
   commercial satellites now orbit the globe, in
   addition to hundreds of military,
   spy and scientific satellites. Commercial
   satellites provide businesses with
   everything from data and video transmissions to
   support for consumer navigation
   devices.

   The Russian craft was
   being monitored by Pentagon organizations that
   keep track of space debris in
   order to prevent in-orbit collisions from damaging
   or destroying both
   commercial and government satellites. The National
   Aeronautics and Space
   Administration and the Pentagon track more than
   10,000 pieces of high-speed
   debris, some no larger than a football.

   Cosmos satellites have
   been designed for various uses, from spy missions
   to missile-warning systems to
   securing military communications. They have caused
   a number of scary incidents
   over the years, including a 1991 collision between
   one defunct model and debris
   from another; a near-collision with the space
   shuttle the same year; and
   another that crashed into Canadian wilderness in
   1978.

   Pentagon officials will
   face a barrage of questions about how they missed
   such an impending collision
   with an intact satellite, according to Tim Farrar,
   a satellite consultant
   familiar with Iridium. Commercial satellites are
   "routinely repositioned to
   avoid potential collision with smaller pieces of
   debris," said Mr. Farrar.

   Pentagon brass,
   satellite industry executives and NASA leaders for
   years have publicly
   expressed concern about the dangers of orbital
   debris. But the odds of a direct
   hit between satellites were considered so small as
   to be basically unthinkable.
   The ground-based and space-based reconnaissance
   tools available to the Pentagon
   generally were considered adequate to keep close
   track of larger objects.

   Recently, U.S. and
   European operators began reviewing contingency
   plans to move some
   telecommunications satellites away from a pair
   that are malfunctioning.

   Space collision worries
   gained momentum in January 2007, when China used a
   relatively simple
   antisatellite weapon to knock down one of its aged
   weather satellites.

   NASA said there have
   been four earlier instances of accidental
   collisions in orbit, generally
   involving rocket parts and other debris. None
   involved a full-size satellite.

   When satellites reach
   the end of their useful lives they often are
   parked in remote orbits where they
   are unlikely to endanger working satellites. But
   if a satellite's onboard
   computers or other systems fail, or it runs out of
   battery power, it can be
   difficult for ground operators to maintain
   control.

   Iridium, of Bethesda, Md.,
   uses more than 60 satellites to provide voice and
   data services for about
   300,000 subscribers globally. It said the
   collision has "minimal
   impact" on service due to its backup capacity.

    

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