earth orbits
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Russian Space Junk Came Alarmingly Close to Smashing Into NASA Satellite
That was a really close one. Further analysis of a near-miss collision between two satellites in space revealed that they came even closer to one another than initially believed, raising more alarm over the growing danger of space debris. In late February, NASA’s TIMED spacecraft and the defunct Russian Cosmos 2221 nearly avoided crashing into…
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US Space Force Purchases $25 Million ‘Fuel Truck’ for Satellites
Zipping far above Earth, it’s not exactly easy for satellites to find a corner gas station when the fuel gauge gets low. To tackle this cosmic conundrum, a Space Force-funded initiative is working on an innovative solution to refuel distant satellites on-the-fly. On Wednesday, Space Force awarded Astroscale a $US25.5 million contract to design and…
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What to Know About Kessler Syndrome, the Ultimate Space Disaster
The world got a stark reminder this week that Earth’s orbit is increasingly a crowded and potentially dangerous place. After the Russian military destroyed one of its defunct satellites in a weapons test early Monday morning, the crew of the International Space Station was forced to take shelter as high-speed debris passed uncomfortably close to…
