So how do the satellites do to avoid colliding with each other?
What are satellites for?
To begin with, we are going to explain the function that satellites have: they can have various uses while in Earth orbit, such as helping GPS systems with the navigation and positioning, allow communication between mobile devices or study Earth and space to obtain as much information as possible for future research.
In addition, these systems can be kept in orbit constantly since are programmed at a speed which is fast enough to beat gravity.
Therefore, it remains in orbit both by its speed and by the gravitational force that the Earth has on him. The closer a satellite is to the planet, the more speed it has to use to stay in orbit.
There are currently thousands of satellites in orbit. Its size may vary: they can be small and measure a little over a meter or, otherwise, some can be the size of a bus. That is why, the larger the satellite, the greater the possibility of it colliding.
How do satellites avoid colliding with each other?
It is obvious that the space is huge and that greatly reduces the occurrence of a collision between satellites. In fact, all satellites are usually placed in different orbits precisely to avoid this, that they cross and collide.
There is also the possibility that these ships collide not with each other, but also with space junk that is floating in space.
However, as the number of satellites in space increases, so will the chances of collision will increase. In 2009, for example, an American and a Russian satellite collided, and in that year there were far fewer satellites in orbit than there are now.
It should be noted that the general trend is that, although these satellites belong to different organizations and companies, they are controlled autonomously, although some of them have systems to detect possible collision risks and change your trajectory to avoid the crash.
The problem is that, by doing this, the satellite can automatically get inadvertently in the path of another satellite, increasing the risk of collision.