2 Satellites Collide For First Time Ever

I knew it was possible, but had never really thought about it - 2 satellites colliding and being destroyed in space. That's exactly what happened on Tuesday, though, and now you can read about what happened...

This map from SpaceWeather.com sums it up pretty well:

Cosmos 2251 is/was a retired Russian satellite, and Iridium 33 is/was a U.S. Iridium satellite.

Basically, a satellite will have a given orbit at a given speed, route, and altitude. It is definitely possible mathematically for two to eventually meet up, and that's what happened.

Here's some more information from SpaceWeather:

"U.S. Strategic Command is tracking hundreds of satellite fragments. In the 48+ hours since the collision, the debris swarm has spread around both orbits. Experts characterize the distribution as a pair of "clumpy rings"; one ring traces the orbit of Iridium 33, the other traces the orbit of Kosmos 2251.

This injection of debris substantially increases the population of space junk at altitudes near 800 km. Collisions are now more likely than ever. Fortunately, the International Space Station orbits Earth at a much lower altitude, 350 km, so it is in no immediate danger. The Hubble Space Telescope is not so safe at 610 km. In the days ahead, researchers will carefully study the make-up and dynamics of the debris cloud to estimate when bits will begin to drift down to lower altitudes. "

If this interests you at all, you can listen in as debris scatters over Texas late tonight/early the 14th, by going to www.spaceweatherradio.com and listening between about 2:18am and 2:28am CST.

That's it for now! Have a great weekend!

~KDLT Meteorologist Aaron Shaffer