The unexpected move by the International Space Station to avoid "catastrophic fragmentation"

07/03/2020 - 21:53

• Clarín.com
• Society

The Flight Control Center carried out an unplanned maneuver this Friday to correct the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS), in order to avoid a space debris impact , the Russian space agency Roscosmos reported.

"All operations were carried out normally and in full correspondence with the calculations of the Russian specialists of the ballistics service," the entity said in a statement reproduced by the EFE agency.

The maneuver was carried out by activating the propellers of the Progress MS-14 freighter , coupled to the Zvezda module of the Russian segment of the station, according to Roscosmos.

The thrusters ran for 100 seconds , increasing the height of the station by 300 meters .

The most recent change in orbit of the ISS was carried out on June 29, with an increase in height of 480 meters , with which the station was located 418.5 kilometers from Earth.

A spacewalk outside the International Space Station in December 2018.

The maneuver was carried out in order to prepare the station for the upcoming arrival of the Progress MS-15 freighter, whose launch is scheduled for July 23 of this year.

The amount of space debris scattered around the Earth's orbit has become a concern for space agencies around the world.

As Russian scientists have warned, it is estimated that it will double by 2030. Currently, the Space Control System has cataloged more than 50,000 space objects of technological origin in various orbits.

Experts from Russia's Bauman State Technical Institute estimate that around 7,200 tons of space debris orbit around the Earth . This network of debris, in any of its sizes, could cause damage to an operational spacecraft, hence the need to find solutions to a problem that is global and that is becoming more and more urgent.

The collision of a ten-centimeter object could involve "catastrophic fragmentation" of a satellite, one of a centimeter could pierce the shields of the ISS and a piece of only one millimeter would destroy satellite subsystems.

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