The space junk resulting from the impact of a russian missile against a satellite has endangered the current crew of the International Space Station (EEI), forcing them to quickly take refuge in the capsules arranged as lifesavers in case of need.
The impact has been the result of a experiment conducted by Russia, in which the target was precisely one of its own satellites. One that no longer worked, of course.
Fortunately, there was no need to fear for the integrity of the ISS or the lives of the astronauts. Some astronauts among whom, curiously, were two Russian cosmonauts. Nevertheless, NASA members, as well as the governments of United States and United Kingdom, have shown their dissatisfaction with the accident. And this time nothing has happened, but perhaps another time there would be serious damage to regret.
Emergency on the International Space Station due to a missile
A rain of space debris debris yesterday forced the astronauts of the International Space Station to resort to the typical safety protocol for this type of accident.
This consists of close the hatches located between the different modules of the facilities and take refuge in the capsules that are kept attached to the station like lifeboats. This time they have been the Crew Dragon, recently shipped by SpaceX, and the Russian Soyuz. In the first they took refuge Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, from NASA, together with Matthias maurer, of the European Space Agency (ESA). In the second, on the other hand, the Russian cosmonauts entered Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrovas well as the NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei.
The security protocol includes that these capsules take the crew to Earth in an emergency. However, this time it was not necessary.
Now, where did all that space junk come from? The answer has been provided LeoLabs, a company dedicated to space debris tracking, thanks to a radar network located all over the world. It was one installed in New Zealand the one that detected multiple small objects at the point where the Russian satellite previously stood Kosmos-1408. This was a spy satellite launched by Russia in 1982. It had been out of service for several years, making it an ideal target for testing a Russian anti-satellite missile.
The problem is that the satellite weighed several tons. And of course, once scrapped, the fragments can be very dangerous.
The dangers of space junk
It is known as space debris to artificial space objects and their fragments, which no longer serve a useful function, but are still in space, primarily in Earth orbit.
There have been numerous incidents in which these objects have impacted on others that are still active, endangering their integrity or even completely destroying them.
It is a known problem for a long time, which is getting worse and worse. And it is that, although they are trying to implement measures to prevent the formation of space debris, such as the use of reusable rockets On the part of SpaceX (a company that also contributes to space debris with the launch of huge amounts of satellites into space), more and more debris is accumulating.
It thus advances towards something known as Kessler syndrome. This is a scenario proposed by NASA consultant Donald J. Kessler, in which the volume of space debris in the low earth orbit it would be so high that orbiting objects would frequently be hit by debris. And that feeds back the problem, since more and more space junk would be generated.
That is why there is so much concern about what happened on the International Space Station with the Russian satellite.
The United States, with four astronauts aboard the facility, has been among the first to show its disappointment. It has been done by the spokesman for the United States Department of State, Ned price, in an information session related by the BBC. He has qualified the test with the missile of unwise, as it has released more than 1,500 pieces of space junk that could have caused damage to the crew of the Space Station.
For his part, the NASA administrator, Bill nelson, also recalled the taikonauts who are currently on the Chinese space station. “With its long history of human space flight, it is unthinkable that Russia would endanger not only US and international astronauts associated with the ISS, but also its own cosmonauts and the taikonauts aboard China’s space station.”
Even United Kingdom has given his opinion through his secretary of defense, Ben wallace, who believes that the launch of this missile “shows complete disregard for the safety, security and sustainability of the space”.
It seems that this is the scourge of human beings. Destroying the Earth is no longer enough, so little by little we are also going into space. Some of this space junk is unavoidable. However, according to the agencies that have given their opinion so far, this action carried out in Russia is a reckless act and nothing necessary. Therefore, they hope that it will not happen again.