International Space Station (ISS) astronauts had to perform evasive maneuvers to avoid colliding with an Argentine satellite who was in the opposite direction.
The danger of the situation forced the astronauts to start the ship’s engines to avoid a potentially fatal accident. NASA said the Progress-83 engines had to remain on for about six minutes to allow the space station to correct its orbit.
Yes, sure The space agency did not specify the name of the satellite in question.Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard Smithsonian Center, posted on his Twitter account that It could be CuSat-17, which is part of the constellation Aleph-1. and run by the Argentine company Satellogic.
The scientist commented on this The dangerous situation faced by the astronauts is due to the fact that the satellite’s orbit is gradually decreasing.. This results in it becoming dangerous to other devices orbiting the Earth, as is the case with the International Station.
The constellation Aleph-1, which McDowell refers to, consists of about 30 satellites., all of which are devoted to observing the earth’s surface. These devices have an estimated weight of about 37 kg and are propelled by butane.
“It appears that not all of your satellites are showing orbital changes. It’s not clear to me if this is an operational option, a different design, or a degraded capacity,” McDowell added when asked if all satellites behave the same.
hit at high speed
The ISS is moving at an incredibly high speed, approximately 17,400 miles per hour., which means that it completes an orbit around the Earth in just 90 minutes. Such a high speed is necessary to keep the ISS in orbit and prevent it from falling to Earth due to gravity.
If a satellite, even a small one, were to collide with the ISS at such a speed, it would be a disaster.. The collision would cause severe structural damage to the ISS, potentially damaging critical systems and endangering the lives of astronauts who work and live on the station. Even if the satellite were small enough not to seriously damage the ISS, the impact velocity would cause severe vibrations in the structure, which could affect the stability of the station and lead to long-term damage.
Except, the collision of the satellite with the ISS can also send a large amount of debris and fragments into orbit, which could endanger other satellites and spacecraft in the same area. This could cause a chain reaction of collisions and fragmentation of objects in orbit, known as “Kessler’s syndrome”. The result will be a buildup of debris that will make navigation and access to space even more difficult.
Source: La Opinion
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