The equipment of two major Russian and American space agencies continually encountered problems in Earth orbit, the cause of which caused the Russian satellite to break up remains unclear.
Russian satellite breaks up in orbit
According to Scientific alert, A notice from the 18th Space Defense Squadron of the U.S. Space Force Delta 2 Space Detachment indicated that they were monitoring 85 individual fragments at an altitude of 1,169 km from the ground, would have been released into space since January 4 due to the sudden disintegration of the Russian satellite KOSMOS 2499.
A broken satellite in orbit
A broken satellite in orbit – (ESA graphic image).
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said this was the second fragmentation event recorded for this type of satellite. Another experienced a similar phenomenon on October 23, 2021, creating 22 traceable pieces of debris.
Information published on the official website of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (Russia) indicates that this satellite is designed to test plasma thrusters/ion thrusters.
Both times the satellite broke up, there has been no clear conclusion yet The most predicted possibility is due to the self-detonating propulsion system. Another satellite almost of the same type KOMOS 2491 also exploded in 2020.
According to the sheet Space, At the 2014 press conference on the launch of KOSMOS 2491 (December 2013), the then head of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos), Mr. Oleg Ostapenko, said that this type of experimental satellite was the fruit of cooperation between Roscosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences, used for peaceful purposes, in particular for unspecified research by educational establishments.
NASA’s Moon spacecraft is ‘stuck’ with Earth
NASA also had a problem with Lunar Flashlighta small probe launched in December 2022 with the aim of flying to lunar orbit, from there orbiting this satellite to search for signs of frozen water.
Lunar flashlight ship
Lunar Flashlight Ship – (NASA graphic image).
However, the ship’s cubesats carry one type of fuel “Green” tested – encountered a problem. 3/4 cubesat didn’t work as expected and after a few times this ship still worked “failed” in Earth orbit.
NASA says it’s trying a new plan “change track” always for this unlucky ship. Instead of operating in lunar orbit, it simply tries to reach high Earth orbit, where it can fly past the Moon every month to observe the Moon’s South Pole.
Article source: NLD
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The equipment of two major Russian and American space agencies recently encountered continuous incidents in Earth orbit, the cause of the rupture of the Russian satellite is still unknown…
