" CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Two big communications satellites collided in the first-ever crash of its kind in orbit, shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds and posing a slight risk to the International Space Station. NASA said it will take weeks to determine the full magnitude of the crash, which occurred nearly 500 miles over Siberia on Tuesday. "
" "Right now, they're definitely counting dozens," Matney said. "I would suspect that they'll be counting hundreds when the counting is done."
As for pieces the size of micrometers, the count will likely be in the thousands, he added. "
" At the beginning of this year there were roughly 17,000 pieces of manmade debris orbiting Earth, Johnson said. The items, at least 4 inches in size, are being tracked by the U.S. Space Surveillance Network, which is operated by the military. The network detected the two debris clouds created Tuesday. "
I came across this at mrlim's. Wow. Satellite collision. The first i've heard of, ever.
Yes it's amazing. I mean, what are the odds of 2 masses crashing into each other in the vastness of outer space? Ok, amazing, but awfully dangerous. Yeah, collision in space isn't a joke. It's not as simple as 2 cars crashing into one another on a road, for example.
The physics of outer space has to be taken into consideration. What's space famous for? Yes, lack of the great Newtonian G, G for GRAVITY(i'm trying not to sound like a physics tutor here). In such a weightless environment, with little influence of gravity, such a collision is life-threatening to our astronauts living at the ISS(Int'l Space Stn) for example.
Notice they mentioned debris clouds, for all you know, shrapnel, ceramic shards and whatnot could be in there. If these are shot outwards following an explosion or crash, the particles would be travelling at breakneck bullet-speed. Now in space, there's no gravity, so they won't SLOW down. Velocity could be maintained for kilometres, even light-years, unless gravity kicks in.
So effectively, the collision becomes a space grenade, with deadly shrapnel bullets flying everywhere. Except that it doesn't have a death radius. Take this, imagine one day, an astronaut decides to take a breather(i don't know how) and space-walk outside the ISS. The collision occurs, and a single piece of debris, even as small as a piece of dice, comes whizzing past and drills through his spacesuit, exiting on the other side and continuing its journey. It is akin to getting shot by a gun. One of the many hazards of space. Wannabe astronauts, anyone?
" It's gotten so bad that orbital debris is now the biggest threat to a space shuttle in flight, surpassing the dangers of liftoff and takeoff. "
Certain materials can even penetrate the hull of space shuttles and the ISS, provided they are given enough speed. I hope our friends in space are okay. Goodluck and Godspeed,........ and Goodbye.
