PeterP
February 14th, 2009, 11:26 AM
I thought this was worth posting -
The two craft were moving in almost perpendicular directions when they collided, and the extent of the damage will become clearer as the debris from the two satellites spreads out, Johnson says. According to Iridium documents, such satellites orbit at speeds of more than 25,000 kilometres per hour.
Most of the debris is expected to stay in orbit for years. "The majority is right there around 790 kilometres, and those will take a long time to fall back to Earth," Johnson told New Scientist. "The majority will take decades at least."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16584-satellite-collision-creates-copious-space-junk.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=space
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/02/11/satellite-collision.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/02/11/gallery/satellites-400x300.jpg
Not good.
Pete
The two craft were moving in almost perpendicular directions when they collided, and the extent of the damage will become clearer as the debris from the two satellites spreads out, Johnson says. According to Iridium documents, such satellites orbit at speeds of more than 25,000 kilometres per hour.
Most of the debris is expected to stay in orbit for years. "The majority is right there around 790 kilometres, and those will take a long time to fall back to Earth," Johnson told New Scientist. "The majority will take decades at least."
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16584-satellite-collision-creates-copious-space-junk.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=space
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/02/11/satellite-collision.html
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/02/11/gallery/satellites-400x300.jpg
Not good.
Pete