Russian, U.S. satellites collide in space
 

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Two satellites, one Russian and one American, have collided some 800 kilometers (500 miles) above Siberia, the Russian and U.S. space agencies, said Thursday.

Strange that the Russkie one happened to be an old military satellite, eh? :hmmm:

"Ah, sorry American, I didn't see you reversing..." :haha:

It's Bush's fault:O:

No its Obamas fault!:88)

:timeout:I'm blaming the faulty traffic light:D

Im supprised that this kind of thing doesent happen more often given the amount of junk up there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/sc...rssnyt&emc=rss

Oh and its Newton's fault ;)

:har:

I think as time passes it will happen more and more often.

Newton = teh hitlerz

LEO is getting pretty crowded and more space debris will only make it more hazardous.

If you have to blame someone, blame Kepler. :smug:

We need traffic laws up there I'd say. You are only allowed to orbit in specific directions! :DL

-S

A good explanation as any for the apparent absence of alien civilizations. Their planets are encased in spheres of satellite debris.

Sort of a passive shield... wow were smarter than I thought ! :cool:

It seems to me the odds of this occuring--even once--in the VERY SHORT PERIOD of time since the beginning of the space age must be "astronomically long*."

[*ok...apologies for that. But it's apropo too, I think.... ;D]

Moreover, my own immediate reaction upon hearing about it was that there must be more to this story. I hold to the view that one or the other of the objects was "targeted," in fact, simply because space, even "near earth orbital space" is still a very, very sparsely populated region indeed.

I can understand this occuring due to human intervention. But it's very difficult to believe it occured due to random chance.


CS

Did anyone get the licence plate of that satellite???:doh:

Ppl also win the Lottery, or get struck by lightning. No higher planning behind it, sometimes stuff just happens, no matter the chances.

Given the speeds the debries travels in orbit, sometimes even something small like a screw can cause major damage. There is an Annime called "Planets" toppling exactly that problem, telling the story of a space station in 2060 or something and a crew dedicated to cleaning up space debries for security sakes.

The Crazy Ivan Manuever

Calm down, surely the insurance policy will paid the damages. Or the Russian hadn´t a valid traffic license? Or the insurer is AIG?

One of the Shuttles had one of its windscreens hit a few years back , NASA worked out that it had been hit by a flake of Paint! http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/ph.../sts7crack.jpg

Figure the odds on that one.There's a lot of crap up there and its suprising things like this don't happen more often.

There is quite a bit of stuff up there, but there is a way of knowing if a conjunction between 2 orbiting bodies will occur. Nominally, NORAD creates 2 line element data sets that commercial space users can use for this. I believe these sets are good for 7 days. Can't remember off the top. But this will allow you to reposition your asset days in advance if you detect a conjunction with something in your constellation.

And yes, Keplerian physics is driving this here. :up: