2024-04-25 06:41:04
Washington: NASA scientists have made new revelations about the possible collision between NASA’s TIMED satellite and the Russian satellite Cosmos 2221 in February. He said that both these satellites were very close to colliding with each other. On February 28, the two satellites passed by each other at a distance of only 33 feet and barely avoided collision. NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said, “We found through recent analysis that both satellites were within hard-body parameters by less than 10 meters (33 feet).” He said at the 39th Space Symposium in Colorado: “It was very shocking personally, and also to all of us at NASA.”
pile of debris in space
Melroy said, “If the two satellites had collided, we would have seen significant debris production – small fragments traveling at thousands of miles per hour, could have punched holes in the other spacecraft. These could have potentially endangered human life. Were.” A large number of debris is being created in space due to human activities like dead satellites, rocket stages etc. All of them travel at very high speed in space. An estimate by the European Space Agency (ESA) suggests that there are 130 million pieces of such debris, ranging between 1 mm and 1 cm in length. In addition, more than 1 million fragments are between 1 and 10 cm and more than 35,000 fragments are larger than 10 cm.
How many satellites are currently orbiting?
The number of man-made space objects has increased in recent decades and there are currently 11,500 satellites orbiting our planet. NASA has stepped up efforts to ensure that space debris does not cause harm and becomes beneficial to humanity. “NASA is making sure we are making our resources available to support sustainable activity for us and everyone,” Melroy said in a statement.