Global Location Location dodges orbital debris from Russian anti-satellite tv for pc test

A chunk of house junk from a Russian anti-satellite tv for pc weapons test pressured the Global Location Location to maneuver to lead clear of the orbital debris on Thursday (June 16). 

Russia’s house company Roscosmos dilapidated an uncrewed Growth 81 cargo ship docked on the Global Location Location to pass the orbiting lab clear of a chunk of house debris from the Russian satellite tv for pc Cosmos 1408, sharing video of the exercise (opens in recent tab) on the social media carrier Telegram. Russia destroyed the defunct Soviet-period satellite tv for pc in a November 2021 anti-satellite tv for pc missile test. 

“I verify that at 22.03 Moscow time, the engines of the Russian Growth MS-20 transport cargo ship applied an unscheduled maneuver to lead clear of a foul technique of the Global Location Location with a fraction of the Kosmos-1408 spacecraft,” Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Telegram (opens in recent tab), in step with a Google translation, the utilize of Roscosmos’ designation for Growth 81.

Linked:  The worst house debris events of all time

The Growth 81 cargo ship fired its thrusters for 4 minutes and 34 seconds to pass the giant house web web page away from the trajectory of the fragment of Cosmos-1408 and lift the web web page’s orbit a diminutive.

 “The crew was as soon as by no technique in any hazard and the maneuver had no impact on web web page operations,” NASA officers wrote in an update (opens in recent tab). “Without the maneuver, it was as soon as predicted that the fragment could furthermore have passed within spherical a half of mile from the web web page.”

Cosmos 1408 was as soon as a Soviet Digital and Indicators Intelligence centered Tselina-D satellite tv for pc launched in 1982 from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome, in step with a NASA file (opens in recent tab).

 On Nov. 15, 2021, the satellite tv for pc (which was as soon as now now not helpful) was as soon as deliberately destroyed by Russia in an anti-satellite tv for pc missile test that created an estimated 1,500 items of orbital debris. Astronauts on the house web web page had been pressured to make a choice safe haven on Nov. 15 due to concerns over that debris, which would per chance furthermore pose a hazard to the house web web page and varied spacecraft for years yet to near, specialists have said. 

Electronic mail Tariq Malik at tmalik@house.com or discover him @tariqjmalik. Apply us @Spacedotcom, Fb and Instagram.  

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Location.com and joined the group in 2001, first as an intern and employees author, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and residential science, to boot to skywatching and entertainment. He turned Location.com’s Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Sooner than becoming a member of Location.com, Tariq was as soon as a employees reporter for The Los Angeles Instances covering education and metropolis beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. He’s furthermore an Eagle Scout (positive, he has the Location Exploration benefit badge) and went to Location Camp four times as a youngster and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. To glimpse his newest project, you are going to be ready to have a examine Tariq on Twitter.