On December 8 at 17:13 Moscow time, a Proton-M rocket with Breeze-M upper stage launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying Yamal-402, a communications satellite built by Thales Alenia Space for the Russian-owned Gazprom company. Instead of announcing successful separation nine hours later, International Launch Services (ILS) found itself announcing an anomaly: “Preliminary flight information indicates that the 4th and final burn of [...]
Post Tagged with: “Debris”
Update: Breeze-M Explodes in Orbit Creating Debris Cloud
October 25 Update: The Breeze-M that malfunctioned on August 6 has now exploded in space, creating a debris cloud. Shortly after publication of this article, reports surfaced indicating that explosive deconstruction of the Breeze-M upper stage had occurred on October 16. The occurence was not surprising considering the large quantity of hypergolic propellant still aboard the vessel – more than half of its [...]
Effectiveness of Post Mission Disposal Rule Could Curtail LEO Debris Creation
Although predicting the future debris environment is very difficult, a new NASA study demonstrates the effectiveness of the 25-year Post Mission Disposal (PMD) rule currently in place in limiting the future debris population in low Earth orbit (LEO). “Controlling the growth of the orbital debris population is a high priority for NASA, the United States, and the major space-faring nations [...]
Update: Dragon Launched with One Engine Out
On October 7, Commercial Resupply Services Mission 1 (CRS-1) took off, with the Falcon 9 rocket carrying a loaded Dragon capsule. Everything was reported as nominal, but those watching carefully may have seen a brighter burst of flame 79 seconds into the launch, followed by falling debris. Only hours later did the news trickle out: Dragon ‘s launch vehicle was [...]
ISS Debris Avoidance Further Delays ATV-3 Departure
The International Space Station partners are keeping a close eye on two pieces of debris that could potentially come within the safety perimeter maintained around the station. An avoidance maneuver is planned for Thursday using ATV-3′s engines. One piece of debris is from a Russian Cosmos satellite, the other from an old Indian rocket. Neither one is expected to actually collide with [...]
Terminal Velocity Aerospace to Improve Reentry Safety
On July 10, Terminal Velocity Aerospace (TVA) began operations in Atlanta, Georgia. The new company is dedicated to improving reentry event safety by improving reentry modelling and prediction capabilities. “Terminal Velocity is proactively working to reduce the uncertainty associated with atmospheric reentry and breakup of spacecraft and launch vehicle stages,” said Dominic DePasquale, the company’s CEO. “Our products directly address the [...]
Micrometeoroid Hit ISS Cupola
On June 10, ISS crew spotted a micrometeoroid impact on Cupola Window 2. The window was immediately shuttered and damage appears to be minor. The Cupola is a popular hang out for ISS crew, who enjoy taking photographs of Earth and space from its windows in their down time. Cupola is also used for enhanced visibility of visiting spacecraft and [...]
Space Safety and Sustainability, Perspectives from the Space Generation
In January 2010, Space Generation Advisory Council introduced a new working group on Space Safety and Sustainability, following successful projects in the fields of GNSS, Near Earth Objects, and Disaster Management. Comprising of a team of students and young professionals from both established and emerging space nations, the Space Safety and Sustainability (SSS) working group allows for an international forum [...]
Controlling Rocket Body Reentry Risks
Source: Orbital Debris Quarterly. During 2011, launch vehicle upper stages dropped from Earth orbit at a rate of one per week. While the number of uncontrolled orbital stage reentries for all of last year was more than twice that of uncontrolled spacecraft, the total mass of these reentering stages was five times that of the uncontrolled spacecraft, posing risks to [...]
ISS Collision Avoidance
Source: Orbital Debris Quarterly. Despite its mass of more than 410 metric tons, the International Space Station (ISS) must occasionally play dodge ball with the numerous man-made objects falling through its orbit (as shown in the figure below). For the first dozen years of its existence, the ISS averaged only one collision avoidance maneuver per year. However, in the past 12 months (April 2011 to April 2012), [...]
