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posted by janrinok on Wednesday August 18 2021, @02:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the things-getting-untidy-up-there dept.

Space collision: Chinese satellite got whacked by hunk of Russian rocket in March:

In March, the U.S. Space Force's 18th Space Control Squadron (18SPCS) reported the breakup of Yunhai 1-02, a Chinese military satellite that launched in September 2019. It was unclear at the time whether the spacecraft had suffered some sort of failure — an explosion in its propulsion system, perhaps — or if it had collided with something in orbit.

We now know that the latter explanation is correct, thanks to some sleuthing by astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, who's based at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

On Saturday (Aug. 14), McDowell spotted an update in the Space-Track.org catalog, which the 18SPCS makes available to registered users. The update included "a note for object 48078, 1996-051Q: 'Collided with satellite.' This is a new kind of comment entry — haven't seen such a comment for any other satellites before," McDowell tweeted on Saturday.

He dove into the tracking data to learn more. McDowell found that Object 48078 is a small piece of space junk — likely a piece of debris between 4 inches and 20 inches wide (10 to 50 centimeters) — from the Zenit-2 rocket that launched Russia's Tselina-2 spy satellite in September 1996. Eight pieces of debris originating from that rocket have been tracked over the years, he said, but Object 48078 has just a single set of orbital data, which was collected in March of this year.

"I conclude that they probably only spotted it in the data after it collided with something, and that's why there's only one set of orbital data. So the collision probably happened shortly after the epoch of the orbit. What did it hit?" McDowell wrote in another Saturday tweet.

Yunhai 1-02, which broke up on March 18, was "the obvious candidate," he added — and the data showed that it was indeed the victim. Yunhai 1-02 and Object 48078 passed within 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) of each other — within the margin of error of the tracking system — at 3:41 a.m. EDT (0741 GMT) on March 18, "exactly when 18SPCS reports Yunhai broke up," McDowell wrote in another tweet.

Thirty-seven debris objects spawned by the smashup have been detected to date, and there are likely others that remain untracked, he added.

Despite the damage, Yunhai 1-02 apparently survived the violent encounter, which occurred at an altitude of 485 miles (780 kilometers). Amateur radio trackers have continued to detect signals from the satellite, McDowell said, though it's unclear if Yunhai 1-02 can still do the job it was built to perform (whatever that may be).


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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by Thexalon on Wednesday August 18 2021, @02:39PM (4 children)

    by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @02:39PM (#1168179)

    Seems like someone didn't pay the protection money!

    --
    "Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @03:21PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @03:21PM (#1168185)

      A good sign of how their new alliance is working

    • (Score: 1, Redundant) by Opportunist on Wednesday August 18 2021, @03:28PM (2 children)

      by Opportunist (5545) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @03:28PM (#1168189)

      Nice sat you got there. Shame if anything bad happened to it...

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:03PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:03PM (#1168251)

        Nice city you got there. Shame if anything landed on it.

        • (Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday August 19 2021, @10:23AM

          by Opportunist (5545) on Thursday August 19 2021, @10:23AM (#1168467)

          Nooo, don't even try to muscle in on the US' spiel. If you value your life, don't try to interfere with the kingpin's business.

  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Wednesday August 18 2021, @03:37PM (2 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @03:37PM (#1168191)

    First there was the hole in their ISS module that got filled with epoxy. Then they decided to do the doe see doe with the ISS. Then their plane's engine catches fire causing the plane to crash. Now we find they've taken out a Chinese satellite. And I'm pretty sure I've forgotten a couple of borked launches.

    That's quite a run they've got going.

    --
    Is anyone surprised ChatGPT got replaced by an A.I.?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:33PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:33PM (#1168240)

      The Russian leadership is off the rails. We are pretending it's not happening. Afghanistan too. I, for one, welcome our new terrorist failed states.

      • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday August 19 2021, @04:05PM

        by Immerman (3985) on Thursday August 19 2021, @04:05PM (#1168545)

        If we don't want failed states, we shouldn't build them. Russia's a different thing, but we won the war in Afghanistan within 18 months. The stated goal of the invasion was to eliminate Al Qaeda's safe harbor, and if we had left after accomplishing that, even if the Taliban had immediately regained control it's very unlikely they would have invited a second invasion by permitting Al Qaeda to return.

        After that point it was all mission creep, charity for military contractors, peace keeping, and "nation building". Unfortunately the US idea of "nation building" seems to be "Keep them weak and dependent on our goodwill for their continued existence", and it worked wonderfully - the nation fell to the insurgents before we even finished pulling out. Had we wanted them to be able to stand on their own there's a LOT of things we could have done differently (starting with, having US troops lend aid to the local security forces, rather than leading them and training them to be dependent on US technology and intelligence resources), but that would have put them on a course to have no need for us, and thus no need to do what we wanted.

        So long as the US is engaged in "nation building", a.k.a. "US empire building", we're just going to keep seeing more such stories.

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by tizan on Wednesday August 18 2021, @04:04PM (11 children)

    by tizan (3245) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @04:04PM (#1168195)

    Isn't that what it is going to be now....Low earth orbit is getting filled with junk...so this is going to become unmanageable sooner than later. Leaving stages of rockets or low earth staellite with decaying time larger than 50 years...things will smash into them and create debris...soon we will have a belt or sphere of debris around earth

    • (Score: 1) by Acabatag on Wednesday August 18 2021, @04:44PM (8 children)

      by Acabatag (2885) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @04:44PM (#1168210)

      It's probably ok, because the only reason to go up past the debris band/barrier was to live the rest of your life confined in a Winnebago-sized pod that you could seldom if ever leave. Experience shows that it's okay to live that way in mom's basement for a time, but not for a lifetime.

      If we're stuck living here as a part of this biome (duh) maybe it will force us to manage things better and not just spew funes trying to get off this sphere.

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday August 18 2021, @08:28PM (1 child)

        by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Wednesday August 18 2021, @08:28PM (#1168288) Homepage
        > the only reason to go up past the debris band/barrier was to live the rest of your life confined in a Winnebago-sized pod that you could seldom if ever leave.

        OK, got it.

        So we're never going to want to launch the JWST?
        Or put anything in geostationary orbit.
        Or launch any more GPS satellites.
        Or any comms satellites.
        Or revisit the moon.
        Or send any more probes to Mars.
        Or anywhere else in the solar system.

        Wait - I bloody well hope you're not in charge of NASA, as you seem to be ruining absolutely everything. There's more to space than just building the B Ark.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
        • (Score: 1) by Acabatag on Wednesday August 18 2021, @09:54PM

          by Acabatag (2885) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @09:54PM (#1168332)

          I'm not ruining everything. Just observing trends where everything is being ruined. And pointing a bright flashlight at the illusion some people have of what 'living in space' would amount to.

          The B ark, though, is really important. There are almost no public phones now in existence anywhere. Do you want those unemployed people running around in the way in the streets?

      • (Score: 0, Redundant) by khallow on Thursday August 19 2021, @12:02AM (4 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 19 2021, @12:02AM (#1168364) Journal

        It's probably ok, because the only reason to go up past the debris band/barrier was to live the rest of your life confined in a Winnebago-sized pod that you could seldom if ever leave.

        You're already confined to a much smaller meat bag for the rest of your life. And you never leave that. Not that big a deal.

        • (Score: 1) by Acabatag on Thursday August 19 2021, @01:10AM (1 child)

          by Acabatag (2885) on Thursday August 19 2021, @01:10AM (#1168379)

          Huh? Are you stuck in an Iron Lung or something? I can go outdoors anytime I want. Right now it's dark here though.

          • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by khallow on Thursday August 19 2021, @02:28AM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 19 2021, @02:28AM (#1168396) Journal

            I can go outdoors anytime I want.

            And in that space Winnebago you'd be in more outdoors than you could possibly imagine.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @01:33AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @01:33AM (#1168386)

          Confined? I should hope so, as if the bag was opened up the meatjuice would leak and the charges would return to ground state.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 19 2021, @02:50AM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 19 2021, @02:50AM (#1168405) Journal

            Confined? I should hope so, as if the bag was opened up the meatjuice would leak and the charges would return to ground state.

            The space Winnebago serves a very similar role. All your stuff, including that breathable air, stays put.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 19 2021, @02:51AM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 19 2021, @02:51AM (#1168406) Journal
        As an aside, you also have described living on a boat in the ocean. Experience has shown some people can do that for a lifetime and they seem ok for it.
    • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday August 18 2021, @08:23PM

      by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Wednesday August 18 2021, @08:23PM (#1168286) Homepage
      Nah, this is fine. R_0 is only 37. Or so.
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @01:45PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @01:45PM (#1168492)

      I think that might be what the aliens want. A sphere of debris to keep us from leaving our planet and f*cking up the rest of the galaxy.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @04:27PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @04:27PM (#1168203)

    West to east. And pass on the high ground

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:43PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:43PM (#1168244)

      > West to east.

      Unfortunately there are also polar orbits and other highly eccentric orbits...

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @09:20PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @09:20PM (#1168313)

        Just smoke those satires. Hear that musk!

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Spamalope on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:32PM (3 children)

    by Spamalope (5233) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:32PM (#1168239) Homepage

    Soon we'll be creating an orbiting debris shield to block military sats?

    • (Score: 1) by Acabatag on Wednesday August 18 2021, @09:56PM (2 children)

      by Acabatag (2885) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @09:56PM (#1168334)

      With a few discrete events to jumpstart the process, the debris shield will replicate on it's own.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @10:38PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @10:38PM (#1168347)

        In the future they'll laugh at how naive we were.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @03:53AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @03:53AM (#1168426)

          Why wait? We can do this now.

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