The incident of Russia’s Resurs-P1 satellite breaking into more than 100 pieces has forced astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) to evacuate urgently. The incident once again sounded a warning bell about the increasingly dangerous situation of space junk.
At around 10 a.m. Mountain Time on Wednesday (16:00 GMT), Russia’s Resurs-P1 Earth observation satellite suddenly shattered into more than 100 pieces of debris can be tracked. According to information from the US Space Command, the incident occurred near the orbital area of the ISS, forcing the American astronauts on the station to move into the wrong place space to ensure safety for about an hour.
As of Thursday afternoon, the number of pieces of debris recorded by the radar of the space tracking company LeoLabs (USA) had reached at least 180. Experts say it could take weeks or months for the debris to completely disintegrate due to its low -n orbitOh, there are thousands of satellites large and small in operation.
The exact cause of the incident is still unknown. The Russian side, which operates Resurs-P1, has not yet made any comment. However, analysts believe that the problem may have stemmed from a technical error on the satellite, such as the remaining fuel generatedổ.
“Due to the low orbit of this debris cluster, we estimate that it will take several weeks to several months for the danger to pass.” LeoLabs said in a statement to Reuters.
This incident once again sounded the alarm about the danger from space junk. There are currently about 25,000 pieces of debris larger than 10cm – the result of explosions or satellite collisions. They pose a potential risk of triggering the Kessler effect – a phenomenon in which debris collides with satellites creating a chain of collisions, exponentially increasing the risk of accidents.
The incident reminded the public of the launch of an anti-satellite missile (ASAT) from Plesetsk in 2021, aimed at a decommissioned satellite a themselves. The explosion, which was supposed to test a weapons system on the eve of the conflict with Ukraine, generated thousands of pieces of space debris and causing Russia to receive a lot of criticism from the United States and Western countries.
Although the Resurs-P1 also flew over Plesetsk within 88 minutes of the breakup, there was no indication that Russia had launched the ASAT missile. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at Harvard and an expert on space tracking, said: “I can hardly believe that they would use such a large satellite as ASAT targets. But for Russians at this time, who knows.”
Normally, satellites that have reached the end of their useful life will be controlled to fall into the Earth’s atmosphere and catch fire. Some fieldson the other hand, they are taken to a “satellite graveyard” about 36,000km from Earth to minimize the risk of collision.
According to information from Roscosmos, Resurs-P1 has been out of service since 2021 due to an equipment failure, and the decision to decommission was announced in 2022. Since then, the satellite is believed to have lowered its orbit, flying over other layers of active satellites in preparation for its return to the atmosphere n.
Faced with the above situation, space experts and lawyers are calling on countries to soon establish an international mechanism to manage thespace traffic, which currently does not exist.
Returning to the Resurs-P1 incident, shortly after receiving an alert from the control center in Houston at around 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday (i.e., 1 a.m. ET Five years (GMT), six astronauts on the ISS had to carry out a “safe haven” procedure. Accordingly, they quickly moved into the spacecraft they used to get to the station. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams boarded Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, three other American astronauts and a Russian astronaut boarded SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. while the remaining American astronauts and two Russian cosmonauts moved into the Soyuz. About an hour later, the astronauts returned to normal work on the station.
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