The debris from the defunct 1,984-pound (900-kilogram) Russian satellite launched in 1993, and its 1,235-pound (560-kilogram) US counterpart could be significant.
"We are looking at around more than 500 pieces of debris," said Navy Lieutenant Charlie Drey, a spokesman with US Strategic Command (STRATCOM).
"Anytime you have something like this happen, there is a concern about other objects that are in orbit. Now that you have all this debris there, it does pose a risk to satellites," he told AFP.
Analysts are plotting the coordinates of each of the debris pieces, which will later be posted on the public website space-track.org.
Drey said STRATCOM's Joint Space Operations Center currently tracks and catalogs over 18,000 man-made objects orbiting the Earth using a worldwide space surveillance network of radar and optical space sensors.
No comments:
Post a Comment