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While there’s no risk of harming anyone on Earth, if the debris collide, it could be the start of a feedback loop of increased orbital junk that would make space travel increasingly difficult. If enough debris fills Earth’s orbit, there will be a significant danger to active satellites and even rocket launches.
“We’re not yet in a position where we can actively remove any debris like this,” said Gorman. “So it’ll be up there for a while. And because of the altitude of about 1,000 kilometres, this stuff isn’t going to reenter within a matter of weeks or months. Some of it is likely to be up there for quite some time.”
During that time, the debris creates a risk for other objects, like active satellites. At higher orbits, space debris has even forced the International Space Station (ISS) to make costly maneuvers to avoid the junk, which could damage the station.
This is not the first close encounter of the year. In January, a decommissioned space telescope and an experimental U.S. payload passed within about 47 metres of one another.
As in the January near-miss, there is no way to communicate with either of the defunct objects and have them shift their position out of harm’s way. The Chinese rocket stage is part of a Long March 4B rocket launched on May 10, 1999. The satellite is a Russian Parus military satellite launched on Feb. 22, 1989.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMigAFodHRwczovL25hdGlvbmFscG9zdC5jb20vbmV3cy93b3JsZC90d28tbGFyZ2UtbWFzc2VzLW9mLXNwYWNlLWRlYnJpcy1tYXktY29sbGlkZS10b25pZ2h0LWFuZC1maWxsLXRoZS1lYXJ0aHMtbG93LW9yYml0LXdpdGgtanVua9IBAA?oc=5
2020-10-15 17:29:04Z
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